
Glass" \. £fe\5. 



Book 



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A LETTER, 



CONGREGATION OF St. JAMES' CHURCH, YORK, U. CANADA, 



OCCASIONED BY 



THE HON. JOHN ELMSLEY'8 PUBLICATION, 



BISHOP OF STRASBOURG'S OBSERVATIONS, 



ON THE 6th CHAPTER OF St. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 



BY JOHN STRACHAN, D. D. L. L. D. 
Archdeacon of' Yop.it. #c. #e. 



YORK :- 
PRINTED BY ROBERT STANTON. 



A LETTER, 



CONGREGATION OF St. JAMES' CHURCH, YORK, U. CANADA 



OCCASIONED BY 



THE HON. JOHN ELMSLEY'S PUBLICATION, 



BISHOP OF STRASBOURG'S OBSERVATIONS, 



ON THE 6th CHAPTER OF St. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 



BY JOHN STRACHAN, D. D. L. L. D. 
Archdeacon cV York. 4*c. #c. 



YORK > 

PRINTED BY ROBERT STANTON. 



-Ft 



1.1 



"S Cf o ^- 






York, Upper Canada, 1st January 1834. 

TO THE CONGREGATION OF St. JAMES' CHURCH. 
My Dear Brethren : 

After the Honorable John Elmsley returned from England, 
his attendance at Church, which had been usually very regular, 
was observed to be unfrequent ; and after a little time altogether 
ceased. Rumours were afloat that he had deserted the Faith of his 
Fathers, and conformed to the Roman Catholic Church. As he 
had never spoken to me on the subject, I felt unwilling to notice 
such rumours, although, to external appearnce, they were not with- 
out foundation ; for having known no instance of such conversion in 
this Province, it seemed scarcely credible, that a person who had 
been carefully educated, to mature age, in the doctrines of the Pro- 
testant Church, should have suddenly abandoned them, and attached 
himself to the Roman Catholic persuasion ; but yet there seemed 
to be ground for apprehension. Sometimes I thought that my duty 
required of me to call upon him, and expostulate with him on his 
absence from public worship. At other times I considered that if 
he were sincerely in doubt, he would make his difficulties known to 
me ; this I felt to be his duty, and what I was entitled to expect. 

While thus contemplating the matter in my own mind, I re- 
ceived from Mr. Elmsley the following letter, with the Bishop of 
Strasbourg's observations on the sixth Chapter of St. John's Gospel : 

York, October 7th, 1333. 
My Dear Sir : 

" In enclosing you the copy of a pamphlet, the publication of 
which in this Country 1 have been at some pains and expense to 
effect ; I trust you will pardon the liberty I take in begging for it 
your most attentive consideration, in order to my being favored, 
at your leisure, with your opinion of the important subject of its 
pages, and also of the manner in which the argument is sustained. 



" It is an extract from the work of a very able and pious Ca- 
tholic Prelate, a brief memoir of whose life is prefixed to the work 
by the London publisher, The view taken by the author, in this 
most essential point in controversy, between Catholics and Protes- 
tants, is to me quite new. I have perused, I believe, every other 
work to be found in the catalogue on this subject, before I fell in 
with this, and I met with nothing which favored the Catholic doc- 
trine any thing like it; and as I may safely say, I feel myself quite 
unable to gainsay it, so I do not hesitate to say, that I have found 
nothing in any of the Protestant writers, whose controversial works 
I have perused, which throws the smallest difficulty upon it, or 
establishes a single doubt of the soundness of the argument. 

"Your reading must of course have been more and more various 
than mine, and your judgment more matured ; I therefore come to 
you, my dear Sir, as an enligtened teacher of that Sect in which I was 
born and educated, and as a friend of my Parents, and I flatter my- 
self of mine too, to afford me all the information you can supply on 
so momentuous a subject. In the mean time, I will not conceal from 
you my determinaton, that unless the subject of the Bishop's argu- 
ment can be overthrown, I must, of necessity, no longer abstain 
from receiving the Communion in that Church, where alone the 
real presence of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the 
Sacrament of the Eucharist, is acknowledged. 
" I remain, 

" My dear Sir, 

" Yours very sincerely, 

« JOHN ELMSLEY." 



York, 7th October, 1833. 
My Dear Sir : 

M I have to acknowledge your letter of this day, enclosing a 
pamphlet, of which you avow yourself the publisher. With the 
distinguished Prelate's works, of which this pamphlet forms a very 
small part, I have been for some time acquainted, and readily admit 



that, next to Bossuet, it is the ablest apology for the Roman Catho- 
lic Church that I have yet seen. I am, nevertheless, astonished 
that the Bishop's exposition of the 6th Chapter of St. John should 
have made so deep an impression on your mind, for no tenet of the 
Roman Catholic Church appears to me so completely unscriptural, 
and so extensively pernicious, as that of transubstantiation, nor any 
that has been more triumphantly refuted by Protestant writers; 
and had I been called upon to point out the weakest portion of the 
Bishop's treatise, I should have pointed to that which you have 
published. You must allow me to premise, that the very fact 
of your having printed and disseminated this Pamphlet before 
referring to me, affords me but small encouragement to enter upon 
the subject of which it treats, as it evinces a strong predilection 
on your part in favour of the Bishop's reasoning; and when our 
best Protestant writers, which you say you have read, have failed! 
to convince, I dare not flatter myself with the hope of being 
able to satisfy your scruples, but since you have called upon me 
as the ancient friend of your parents, and as one who takes a 
lively interest in your eternal interest, to state my sentiments, I 
will do my best to convey to your mind that sincere conviction of 
the unsoundness of the Bishop's argument which pervades ray own. 
I must, however, bespeak your patience, as the preparation for 
the opening of the Church, and other avocations press upon me at 
present, and will prevent me for some weeks from giving that atten- 
tion to the subject which its importance confessedly merits. 
" I remain, 

" My dear Sir, 

" Yours, very sincerely, 

"JOHN STRACHAN." 

The members of the Roman and English Catholic Churches, 
both Clergy and Laity, have always lived on the most friendly 
terms in Upper Canada, and will I trust continue to do so. The 
former believed the field to be sufficiently large for their spiritual 
labours, and therefore assiduously abstained from controversy. A 
regard for the tranquillity of their flocks, and the variety and extent 



6 

of their duties, appeared to dictate this line oi conduct to the 
Clergy ; and their situation has hitherto afforded them but little 
leisure or convenience for polemical discussion. But new con- 
verts, anxious to spread the strange light that has burst upon them, 
are not so easily restrained within the limits of a prudent discretion ; 
and therefore Mr. Elmsley thought it necessary, as it would appear, 
even before his final conversion, to labour for the conversion of 
others, by publishing an english translation of the Bishop of 
Strasbourg's commentary on the sixth chapter of St. John. It 
was, I freely confess, at the first view not a little mortifying to 
me to see the son of two old and valued friends, zealous and en- 
lightened members of the Church of England, forsaking the faith 
of his parents, and that of his uncle, one of the brightest pillars 
of our Ecclesiastical establishment, and one of the most eminent 
classical scholars in Europe. Yet so conscious was I that Mr. 
Elmsley's defection would have no effect as an example, that had 
he been content with the silent possession of his novel opinions, 
and not attempted to spread them among my people, I should not 
have undertaken their refutation. The tenets held by the Roman 
Catholic Church, and in which she differs from the truly Catholic 
Church of England, have been so often, and I think so clearly 
refuted, that Mr. Elmsley's adoption of them, when considered in 
all its bearings, carried with it, in my apprehension, no weight 
whatever. He might therefore have ascribed infallibility to the 
Pope ; adopted transubstantiation ; auricular confession; indul- 
gences ; invocation of the Saints ; the adoration of the Cross, and 
the worship of relics, &c. &x. without any molestation from me, 
for I should have considered it sufficient on proper occasions to 
have marked my dissent from such opinions, and to have shewn 
on what ground our Church pronounces them unscriptural, and 
holds them to have no foundation in truth or in the bible. His 
letter and pamphlet, however, evidently assumed the nature of a 
challenge, and deprived me of the power of remaining any longer 
silent. I must acknowledge that I was not a little astonished that 
he should have embraced at once the doctrine of transubstantiation, 



which protestants justly consider the most incredible of any held 
by the Church of Rome : a doctrine, as we shall prove, unknown 
to the primitive Church, and without the slightest countenance 
from scripture. But it was perhaps still more astonishing that Mr. 
Elmsley's adoption of this tenet should have been produced by the 
Bishop of Strasbourg's observations on the sixth chapter of St. 
John, when it is recollected that many able divines, both ancient 
and modern, are of opinion that it has no reference to the Lord's 
Supper, and is directly opposed to the doctrine of a real physical 
presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. To 
me these circumstances offer some hope ; for if so slight an argu- 
ment as can be drawn from a disputed explanation of a passage of 
scripture, whose application to the subject is doubted, has unsettled 
or carried conviction to his mind, when the utter weakness of that 
argument is shewn, he may return to the true fold. Perhaps Mr. 
Elmsley has been bewildered by the words "real presence," for 
he seems to think, from the last paragraph of his letter, that the 
real presence of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the 
Sacrament of the Eucharist is only acknowledged in the Church of 
Rome ; — in this he is greatly mistaken, for the doctrine of the real 
presence in the Lord's Supper is held by all Protestant Churches, 
and particularly by the Church of England : not indeed as the 
Church of Rome holds it, a corporal or physical presence of 
Christ's natural flesh and blood ; for that Church maintains, in 
contradiction to reason, scripture, antiquity and the evidence of 
our senses, that the substance of the bread and wine is changed 
into the very substance of Christ's personal body and blood ; but 
the Church of England believes that the bread and wine become 
holy and the spiritual body and blood of Christ, and therefore the 
real presence which she maintains is spiritual — not carnal ; for 
Christ's body is in heaven, not to return till he come with his 
Mighty Angels to judge the world. How then, to adopt the language 
of one of the most eminent Prelates of our Church, can his body 
be supposed to come down to twenty thousand different Churches 
to be divided, chewed, swallowed and digested : the presence 
therefore for which we contend is the spiritual presence of Christ; 



8 

a presence by which we abide in Christ and Christ abideth in us, 
to the obtaining of eternal life, and such presence is fitly named a 
"real presence," for it is not feigned, but true and faithful. 

My first intention was strictly to confine myself to the Bishop 
of Strasbourgh's commentary on our Saviour's remarkable discourse 
in the Synagogue of Capernaum, but finding it perverse and erro- 
neous, I thought it better to enlarge my plan, and to give such an 
account of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as should not only 
contain a full answer to the Bishop, but tend to instruct and edify 
my congregation, and all Christians who should peruse my work on 
one of the most important parts of our holy religion. Having little 
relish for controversy myself, I thought many were of the same 
taste, and I have therefore divided my subject into three sections: — 
First. Observations on the Eucharist. Second. A short History 
and Refutation of Transubstantiation. Third. Remarks on the 
Sixth Chapter of St. John's Gospel. — The first section I feel war- 
ranted in recommending to the perusal of all who are desirous of 
forming a just conception of the Lord's Supper. The second and 
third sections contain less of the spirit of controversy, than is usual 
in such publications, and are relieved by many remarks which per- 
haps to most readers will be new and striking. 

The numerous calls upon my time have delayed the work 
some weeks longer than 1 intended, or rather the delay has been 
occasioned by enlarging the plan. I have consulted all the authors 
on the subject within my reach ; nor have I scrupled to mix up their 
observations with my own, and even to use their words, for little 
absolutely new can be said upon a subject which, from its great dig- 
nity and importance, has employed the pens of the principal Chris- 
tian writers, since the days of the Apostles. My great aim has been 
lucid arrangement and perspicuous statement, and if I have suc- 
ceeded, the touching beauty and value of the ordinance of which I 
treat, will make my performance useful to the Christian inquirer. 
I remain, 

My dear Brethren, 

Your affectionate Pastor* 

JOHN STRACHAN. 



SUCTION 1st. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE EUCHARIST. 

St. Matthew, xxvi Chap. 26, 27, 28, <§• 29th, verses. 

" And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and 
gave it to the Disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. 

•'And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye 
all of it ; 

" For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the re- 
mission of sins. 

" But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until 
that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom." 
St. Mark, xiv Chap. 22, 23, 24, # 25th verses. 

" And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave 
to them, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. 

" And he took the cup ; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them : 
and they all drank of it. 

"And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed 
for many. 

" Verily, I say unto you, I will drink no more ©f the fruit of the vine, until that 
day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God." 

St. Luke, xxii Chap. 19th <§• 20th, verses. 

" And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, say- 
ing, This is my body which is given for you : this do in remembrance of me. 

" Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in 
my blood, which is shed for you." 

I. Corinthians, xi Chap. 23, 24, 25 <§• 26th, verses. 

il For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That 
the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread : 

" And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat ; this is my 
body, which is broken for you : this do in remembrance of me. 

" After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, 
This cup is the new testament in my blood ; this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in 
remembrance of me. 

" For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
death till he come." 



These are the Scriptures which are considered as more espe- 
cially instituting the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or as 
having an immediate reference to that most solemn ordinance. 
It will be seen from their perusal, that the history of its first 



10 

celebration is given by the first three Evangelists in their several 
Gospels, and also by St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corin- 
thians, in nearly the same words. St. John* who wrote his Gos- 
pel long after the others, and rather to supply what was wanting 
than to repeat what was already written, omits this as a thing 
perfectty understood by the Church. 

It is not a little pleasing to remark, that there is scarcely 
any variation in the several accounts of the institution; that 
given by St. Paul is perhaps the most full and impressive, and 
was communicated to him by revelation of Jesus Christ, for 
this Apostle conferred not with flesh and blood concerning the 
truths he was to deliver, and yet the harmony between him and 
the Holy Evangelists in every particular, is strikingly perfect : 
hence, we may perceive the care taken by its Divine Author, 
that its history should be clearly recorded, and its importance 
unequivocally made known. In illustrating the nature and in- 
tention of the institution, as they appear from the several parts 
of the record, we shall aim only at simplicity and plainness, for 
no eloquence can adorn a rite so beautiful, or language add 
sublimity to an ordinance so holy. This seems not only profit- 
able but necessary, before we proceed to examine the grounds 
of difference which unhappily divide the Roman and Anglican 
Churches on the subject of this Sacrament. 

The first thing that commands our attention is the person 
who instituted this Sacrament — the Lord Jesus Christ, — on the 
evening of the day which preceded his death, Jesus met his 
disciples in an upper hall in Jerusalem, that he might eat with 
them the Paschal Lamb ; and knowing that he had performed 
all things appointed for him by God, and was on the ensuing 
day to complete his obedience by suffering a public and igno- 
minious death, he sat down with the twelve : the Messiah so 
long expected, whose coming had been the occasion of so much 



11 

preparation and of so many splendid promises to the chosen 
people, was now about to complete the work given him to do 
by his Heavenly Father : the friends who were associated with 
him on this interesting occasion, were those humble men whom 
he had selected as the companions of his hitherto limited la- 
bours, but who were about to assume the character of the 
greatest of all the instructors that have ever been chosen by 
Divine Providence for the communication of spiritual blessings 
to mankind. 

Our Lord was to partake for the last time of the Paschal 
ceremony, before that holy service which had been kept sacred 
with such peculiar feelings by the Jews in all their generations 
should have its meaning accomplished in the event, which it was 
appointed to prefigure. For the atonement represented before 
the crucifixion in the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb, bore the 
most exact resemblance to the sacrifice of Christ that the con- 
nexion of the event, with its type, might be so evident as to be 
easily recognised and admitted ; but the same close resemblance 
not being necessary in a symbol of commemoration, that sym- 
bol was changed to prevent any confusion between the old rite 
which was prophetic, and the new one which was commemora- 
tive and sacramental : between the Jewish sacrifice which had 
no independent and inherent efficacy, and the Christian sacrifice 
which possessed it. Nor ought we to be ignorant of the inti- 
mate connection between the Jewish and Christian dispensations, 
which no where presents itself more forcibly than in the striking 
resemblance of the Passover to the Eucharist, — both were of 
divine appointment, and both were sacraments. The Passover 
was a memorial of a great deliverance from temporal bondage 
and the Eucharist is a memorial of a far greater deliverance 
from spiritual bondage: the death of Christ was prefigured by 
the Passover before it was accomplished, and the Eucharist 



12 

represents or figures that precious death now past, both are 
federal rites between God and man. 

As no person was admitted to the feast of the Passover 
before he was circumcised, so no one is to partake of the Eucha- 
rist before he has been baptized. Neglecting or despising the 
Passover, was considered so great a crime as to render the 
offender liable to be cut off from Israel, and in like manner to 
despise or neglect the Holy Communion, is in effect to be cut 
off from Christianity. The Passover was to continue while 
the Jewish law was in force, and the Eucharist shall abide as 
long as Christianity. Such is the striking correspondence be- 
tween the Lord's Supper and the feast of the Passovor. To 
Christians, therefore, as well as to the Jews, there is a night to 
be much observed unto the Lord in all generations, and to both, 
the manner of observing the night is appointed with thanks- 
giving : — " Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, and has de- 
livered our souls from death."* 

This sitting down of Jesus with the twelve was singularly 
impressive, for he knew that he was soon to pass through his 
last and most difficult trial; that already one of his disciples 
had consented to betray him; that the rest would desert him in 
his distress; that all would be offended, because of him that 
night, for the shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep of the 
flock to be scattered abroad : with these thoughts labouring in 
his mind, he resolved to have one meeting of love with those 
whom his Father had given him, and whom he loved unto the 
end. While therefore they were eating, he took bread and 
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said: 
*' Take eat ; this is my body, which is broken for you:" in like 
manner, after supper, he took the cup, saying : "This is the 
New Testament in my blood, shed for the remission of the sins 
of many; drink ye all of it : and this do ye in remembrance of 



13 

Thus like a father on his death bed, surrounded by his 
children, he sat among his disciples for the last time ; and with 
a view of impressing them strongly with the awful importance 
of the events which were about to happen, and by a natural 
reference to his body and blood, to which the bread and wine 
incldently on the table before him bore some resemblance, he 
made them the symbols of the most important event which was 
ever to happen in the annals of time. By this simple and beau- 
tiful rite, his death and its precious benefits were to be comme- 
morated to all coming times, and eventually over the whole face 
of the habitable globe. By the bread and wine the forgivenes 
of sins, through the atonement made by our Saviour's suffer- 
ings and death, and also the spiritual assistance which he pro- 
mises to all believers are set forth; the bread is broken, and the 
wine poured out to denote our Saviour dying for us ; the bread 
is also eaten and the wine drunk, to denote the spiritual strength 
and refreshment and life which we derive from our Lord's mys- 
terious presence and union with us: now this glorious event, 
which saved a perishing world, is not to be commemorated in 
sackcloth and ashes, in tears and lamentations, stripes and pen- 
ance ; nor are we required to give our first born for our trans- 
gression, the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul ; neither 
are we desired to go forth on pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre; 
nothing harsh, nothing burthensome, nothing melancholy is 
required from us. We are only commanded to meet in holy 
fellowship around the table of our Lord, to personate the Holy 
Apostles, and to receive the sacred elements which he formerly 
distributed to those well tried servants, when he met them for 
the last time before his death. We kneel together with the kind 
affections of Christian brethren, of men who partake of the 
same misfortune, and who look forward to the same deliver- 
ance. Our Saviour has done so much, that we are desired to 



14 

do little more, than with faithful and honest hearts to look for- 
ward to the completion of his work. He asks nothing that is 
grievous or distaseful to our feelings, he only bids us remember 
him, and the manner in which we are to remember him is not 
with downcast and sorrowful countenances, but with glad hearts, 
and by a social and friendly ceremony to attend to his injunc- 
tion, " This do in remembrance of me." 

Although Christ instituted both Sacraments, he officiated 
only in the Holy Supper, a distinction which, considering the 
importance which he attached to both, cannot be supposed acci- 
dental. It is indeed a distinction perceptible in several of his 
parables, and especially in his first recorded miracle of Cana 
of Galilee, when he changed water into wine ; the water, when 
made wine, was then and not till then placed in the hands of the 
governor of the feast, to be dispensed to the guests. It should 
indeed seem that our Lord foresaw the notion so erroneous, that 
would creep into the Church respecting the nature of the bread 
and wine administered in the Eucharist, and therefore to render 
its absurdity the more palpable, he officiated himself. Another 
important reason evinces the wisdom of our Saviour's being 
the Priest at the institution of the Lord's Supper, and this 
arises from the nature of the things signified by the two Sacra- 
ments. They are as it were an epitome of the Christian scheme. 
Baptism represents the agency of the Comforter; the Eucha- 
rist the agency of the Son. The admission into his Church 
was not the work of our Lord himself, but of his disciples, 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and the ceremony of that admission 
was baptism : but the redemption of those so admitted was the 
work of Christ, and of this the Eucharist is a symbolical pledge. 
Hence this institution exhibits, by a significant action, the cha- 
racteristic doctrine of the Christian faith ; that the death of the 
author, which seemed to be the completion of the rage of his 



15 

enemies, was a voluntary sacrifice, so efficacious as to supersede 
the necessity of every other, and that his blood was shed for the 
remission of sins. His disciples by partaking of this rite, pub- 
lish an event most interesting to all the nations of the world, 
and far from being ashamed of the sufferings of their Master, 
they glory in his cross. 

Our Redeemer might have exalted any creature by his 
appointment to be to his Church a memorial of his body and 
blood, but there are some obvious and affecting reasons for 
the selection of bread and wine. They are pure elements 
which his followers would be able to procure in every age, and 
the Church for the consecration of them to the purpose, would 
partake of the same symbols in every place. The loaf and the 
cup, which among the Jews the master of the feast at the close 
of supper distributed among the guests, in token of peace and 
good will, stood before our Lord, and were with instructive 
felicity converted into the elements of that Sacrament in which 
we receive from him the assurance of his favour and love. — 
Wine, God hath provided to make glad the heart of man, and 
bread hath he ordained to be the staff of our subsistance, and 
most significantly do they represent that refreshment of the 
soul and nourishment unto eternal life, which those find in the 
body and blood of Christ who spiritually receive them in this 
Holy Supper. In the use of these symbols, the faithful are 
impressively taught their joint communion in the mercies of 
Christ, and their union with each other in him. For though 
there be many grains reaped perhaps from divers fields, yet is 
there in the same loaf but one bread ; and though there are 
many grapes gathered perhaps from several vineyards, yet is ' 
there in the same cup but one wine. The cup of blessing which 
we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? the 
bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of 



16 

Christ ? For we being many, are one bread and one body, for 
we are all partakers of {hat one bread. The bread and wine 
were in themselves nothing more than means of corporeal 
strength and refreshment. Not till our Lord had blessed did 
he break the bread, not till he had broken the bread and taken 
the cup, and by his word and benediction hallowed them to 
this purpose, were they in any sense his body and blood. It 
was his consecration and offering of them as symbolical of his 
sacrifice of himself, which gave them their sacred significance, 
and converted them into the means of spiritual sustenance : 
and of bread and wine thus consecrated and made holy sym- 
bols, according to the ministry of the word by Divine appoint- 
ment, and offered to God after the same manner, must we par- 
take when we desire to receive this Sacrament, for otherwise 
we cannot be said to eat of that bread and drink of that cup. 
The necessary authority Christ left with his Apostles and their 
successors forever, and to them, and such as they shall autho- 
rize, does it exclusively appertain on behalf of their Master, to 
bless the cup and to break the bread : for, in the act of breaking 
the bread, is shadowed forth the breaking of our Lord's Body, 
who is the sustenance of the faithful, and in the pouring out of 
the wine is represented the shedding of his blood, as the liba- 
tion which propitiates the Father, and washes away the sins of 
the world. 

Hence the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper has been deem- 
ed by the pious a feast upon a. sacrifice, a spiritual feeding 
upon the body broken and blood shed of Christ, under the sym- 
bols or signs of bread and wine ; that is, partaking of the 
atonement made by our Lord's death and sufferings, and a per- 
fecting and strengthening our mystical union with his glorified 
body. Though first enjoined on the Apostles, the participation 
in this Sacrament was made obligatory on all Christians, in 



17 

remembrance of Christ, in the fulfilment of the most important 
part of his history. The Apostles best understood its nature 
and origin, for they were chosen to bear testimony to the event 
which the Lord's Supper was to call to remembrance, and they 
not only admitted, but earnestly invited the converts to partake 
of the Sacrement. It was for many ages thought to be altoge- 
ther inconsistent with a Christian profession to be otherwise 
than a regular communicant. Indeed the great eagerness of 
the Christians of the primitive Church to participate in this 
sacred mystery, bore the freshness of the deep impression made 
upon their hearts by the preaching of our Lord and his disci- 
ples. They felt that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was 
not of man but of God, that it was appointed by their Saviour 
whom they were bound to love, and whom they had pledged 
themselves in baptism to serve and obey. The injunction laid 
upon the Apostles by Christ, to do what he had done, to take 
the bread and the cup, and to bless them, and distribute them 
as a memorial of his death and passion, necessarily implied that 
there should be recipients. But who were to receive his body 
and his blood but the members of the Church ? who were to 
unite in this solemn communication before God of the sacrifice 
of the death of Christ ? but those who hope by that death to 
obtain remission of sins; who were to eat at the table of the 
Lord of this feast upon a sacrifice, but those who felt that they 
had need of the pledges of God's favour and goodness towards 
them. Thus was the institution understood by the first Chris- 
tians, who cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of the 
design of the ordinance or intention of their Lord. Therefore 
on the first day of the week in all their assemblies, the celebra- 
tion of the Supper was the great act of their public worship, 
and every person who had been grafted into the body of the 

B 



18 

Church, and had not forfeited his privileges by notorious ini- 
quity, was considered as not only having a right, but as being 
under an indispensable obligation to join in this Holy Eucharist. 

When our Saviour said " do this in remembrance of me," 
he suggests the simple but peculiarly interesting idea on which 
the celebration of the Sacrament is founded. It is doing as it 
were over again what our Lord did with his disciples at the last 
interview which he had with them before his agony, his appre- 
hension and crucifixion. It is not enough to remember him as 
a great and good man, a wise instructor, an admirable teacher 
while he lived, and that he was received up into celestial glory 
when he died : nor is it sufficient to remember Christ as an 
eminent prophet and ambassador from Heaven, a worker of 
miracles, and leading a most holy life, nor to remember him as 
our Head Lord and Master, to whom we owe the greatest vene- 
ration : nor is it enough to remember Christ as higher than the 
angels, but we are to remember him as our Divine Lord, as 
God with us, as the true God ; our Almighty Saviour and Deli- 
verer, the only begotten of the Father over all, God blessed 
forever. To make this fundamental conception the more vivid, 
we must call to remembrance the last Supper, and place our- 
selves in the upper chamber in Jerusalem, where it was eaten. 
The scene then before us, when viewed in all its circumstances, 
cannot be paralelled among all the meetings that ever took 
place upon earth : and whether we consider the party — the 
august rites which it was to terminate — the transcendently un- 
important serea in the history of mankind, which it was to intro- 
duce — the great sufferings that were to fall upon the head of 
him who presided, or the worderful display of affection and 
humility, and of all holy submission and sublime fortitude and 
calmness that characterized his proceedings, there is obviously 
none among all the meetings that ever occurred among men, at 



19 

which every human heart must feel so natural and ardent a 
wish, that it also had been so favoured by God, as to have made 
one of the company that then met together. He who presided 
had an equal regard for all his friends to the end of time ; his 
mind embraced the interests of all the individuals that should in 
all future ages and in every country of the world be sincerely 
disposed to obey his commandments. The little flock that then 
sat round him, and had followed him in life, were but represen- 
tatives of that august and innumerable companj^ whom he is to 
conduct into his heavenly kingdom. And wishing that his 
friends in all ages, and over the whole face of the earth, should 
enjoy an honor and privilege of the same kind with that which 
his personal presence then conferred on his more immediate 
friends, he said " this do in remembrance of me.". He there- 
fore who now officiates at this solemnity, as it is administered in 
our Churches, represents for the time, that Divine Teacher who 
sat down with the twelve before he suffered death. Those who 
partake of it also personate for the occasion those chosen 
Iriends whom Jesus had admitted to his intimate fellowship ; 
and they take their places at the table as the Apostles once took 
their seats at the Paschal table, where Jesus himself condes- 
cended to give them this parting token of his dying love. No 
mode of commemorating the death of their Master could have 
been selected more simple in itself or so well adapted by every 
affecting association to recall the events it was meant to suggest. 
It is obvious, beautiful and touching ; it only requires our Lord's 
disciples of all ages to meet together, as he met with his friends 
on the last evening of his intercourse with them in time. That 
they should repeat that last Supper at which he gave them his 
parting instructions; and should thus have their imaginations 
and affections recalled to the recollection of all the love with 
which he loved his jown, of all the condescension with which he 



20 

had honoured them in his familiar converse, and of the divine 
pity which induced him at last to avoid not even the horrors of 
an ignominous death, that he might accomplish the work which 
his Father had given him to do. 

The association of our Saviour's memory and sublime ex- 
ample, with some solemn circumstance to guard against the 
sloth and negligence incident to the weakness of human nature, 
evinces the wisdom of the institution of the Holy Supper. As 
often as Christians meet at the altar, they bind themselves afresh 
to their Divine Master's service ; whether learned or unlearned, 
we are all animal as well as rational creatures. Sensible objects 
more forcibly affect us and make deeper impressions than words, 
and the more of our senses that are moved in the same manner 
and in the same view, the stronger and more durable must the 
impression be which is made upon the mind. Now this is pre- 
cisely what happens in the Lord's Supper. That which the 
ear admits by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus and his 
saving death, that likewise the eye sees, and the taste as it were 
feels, so that we may say in some manner with the Apostle, 
" that which we have heard with our ears, which we have seen 
with our eyes, and which our hands have handled — that we be- 
lieve and confess concerning Jesus, the author of life and hap- 
piness." At the Holy Supper, therefore, all are in the fairest 
harmony, the thoughts and senses are turned on one and the 
same subject, the absent is in a manner present, and the unseen 
visible. How greatly this conduces to renew the memory of 
Christ, and with how much force and vivacity it operates on 
our minds, is matter of experience to every communicant. In 
this view, therefore, the institution of the Holy Supper, and 
its continued use, have been, and will ever be, the surest means 
of preserving the memory of Christ, his death and resurrection, 
amongst mankind. 



21 

But the last Supper goes still farther than a repetition 
by his followers in all their generations of their affectionate 
remembrance of his spotless character and dying love ; for the 
very elements distributed by our Saviour were made emble- 
matic or symbolical of the great interest which they had in the 
sacrifice which he made. He therefore directed them to con- 
sider the bread which he had blessed as a symbol of his body, 
which was about to be broken, and the wine as an emblem of 
his blood, which was soon to be shed for the transgressions of 
men. But not satisfied with such a consecration as conferred 
only a figurative and symbolical character on the elements of 
bread and wine, and which the words of our Saviour, pro- 
nounced by the Apostles, were only intended to confer, the 
Roman Church, by giving a new sense to Christ's expressions 
— This is my body; this is my blood — has given rise to the 
afflicting and portentous error of tr'ansubstantiation, by which 
the true meaning and striking beauty of the ceremony have 
been long hid from many professing christians: and thus the 
simplest and most interesting and instructive of all the religious 
rites that have ever been given to the world ; the one most 
founded on natural feelings, and destined to give satisfaction 
to universally experienced wants, has been covered with mystery 
which has made it in the Church of Rome the most perplexed 
and mystical of all the ceremosies that have ever darkened the 
imaginations, or lessened the mutual good will of the human 
race. But most fortunately that Church stands almost singu- 
lar in her erroneous apprehension of this ordinance ; and the 
general distribution of the Scriptures, and rapid dissemination 
of knowledge, is enlightening her children on this subject, as 
well as many others, and restoring among all the followers 
of the cross, that affecting and spiritual conception of the Sa- 
crament which was entertained by the whole Christian Family 



22 



for more than eight hundred years after the ascension of our 
Saviour. 

Indeed this, and every other error that may have attached 
itself to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, will vanish before 
the honest interpretation of our Saviour's own words, and a 
reference to the spiritual nature of his blessed religion. When 
sitting with his disciples our Lord may be supposed to have said, 
this is the last supper that 1 shall eat with you before I suffer 
the things that have been foretold of me in the Law and the 
Prophets, and the Psalms. An awful scene of darkness is ap- 
proaching, through the utmost horrors of which I am to pass ; 
and I shall soon bow my head in death, amidst the insults of men, 
and the apparent desertion of God : yet all this is but working 
out the glorious designs of my heavenly Father, for the wel- 
fare of mankind ; for my death is henceforth to be viewed by 
all generations as the sacrifice with which God is well pleased, 
and for the sake of which, forgiveneness of sin and eternal hope 
are to become the portion of all that have been given to me. As 
often, therefore, as ye shall eat bread and drink wine, made by 
consecration in my name symbols of my body and blood, ye 
do shew forth my death in an acceptable and effectual manner. 
Ye shew it forth to the Father as your plea for pardon, grace, 
and immortality ; ye shew it forth as gratefully impressed upon 
your hearts, and as an inducement to me to forgive and preserve 
my Church, having redeemed it with my blood : ye do shew 
it forth to the world as the subject of your faith, of which you 
are not ashamed, as the only ground of your reliance for par- 
don and immortality, and through which alone, man can ob- 
tain everlasting life : ye shew it forth to each other as a source 
and occasion of common joy, of mutual consolation and en- 
couragement, of tender friendship and reciprocal good services : 
ye shew it forth to your own souls as the purchase of your 



23 

redemption, as the sure foundation of hope and peace, as the 
sacrifice by which your sins are taken away, and ye are restored 
to the love and favour of God. It is, therefore, obvious, that the 
intent and meaning of this Holy Rite is a commemoration of the 
death of Christ, in all its aspects and benefits both here and here- 
after; a commemoration in which we declare ourselves his 
diciples, believing in and relying upon the redemption and 
mercies that are in him ; a commemoration, desiring especially 
to be fed with that bread of Life which came down from 
Heaven; to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of 
Man, that we may have eternal life abiding in us. The ordi- 
nance of the Lord's Supper, in whatever aspect it is honestly 
viewed, is found to produce the same beautiful and interesting 
results, namely — a devout recollection of the death of Christ, 
as the grand and central event in the sublime ceconomy, by 
which the covenant of reconciliation between God and Man is 
sealed; and the promise of forgiveness and eternal life is now 
made freely, and in the name of Christ, to all who believe in 
him and obey his laws. 

The adaptation, of this sacrament to the condition and 
illumination of all the varieties of men, who may ever partake 
of it, is exceedingly striking. The simplest and most humble 
of mankind in respect to intellectual attainments, is in a con- 
dition to understand its import and to feel its beauty ; and, 
perhaps, the simplest understandings and best conditioned 
hearts are better adapted to receive the full impression of the 
solemnity than those of greater expansion of thought, but of 
less simplicity of moral feeling; and yet, this rite opens the 
most glorious field of contemplation, even to the most en- 
lightened of mankind, by the recollections which the symboli- 
cal character of the elements employed in the service, was 



24 

meant to awaken. This, said the Redeemer, is my body 
which is broken for you, and this cup is the new testament 
in my blood, shed for the remission of the sins of many. All 
the spiritual blessings of the new covenant seem thus, in the 
simple elements of bread and wine, to be set before the view 
of the communicant; all the grand scheme of the Divine ceco- 
nomy, and all the glorious consequences which its provisions 
are intended to effect for the moral regeneration, the intellectual 
and religious culture, and the final forgiveness and salvation of 
the human race. It is a service worthy of having been insti- 
tuted by Divine Wisdom itself, adapted to the intellectual con- 
dition of all orders of worshippers, and fitted at once to in- 
terest the hearts of the most simple, and to employ with an 
exhaustless fund of ever expanding treasures, the intellect and 
imagination, and most refined sentiments of those who have 
attained or shall ever attain to the utmost possible reach of 
human perfection. Indeed, the higher beings delight to look 
into this mystery, and in its study, the finest and loftiest spirits 
that have graced and enlightened humanity, have evinced their 
affinity to those of Angels, by finding it a favorite subject of 
devout contemplation ; to think lightly therefore, of this ser- 
vice, or to regard it because of its symbolical character as 
fitted only for those who live rather by sight than faith shews 
the greatest presumption, for while by this character it is made 
interesting to the hearts, and level to the imagination of the 
lowliest, it offers objects of thought on which the most im- 
proved and expanded intellect that has ever adorned humanity, 
may continue to expatiate with increasing advantage. Thus is 
the Divine Wisdom of our Lord most beautifully pointed 
out in this ordinance ; for, it is so ordered, as not only to be 
suited to the infinitely varied condition of those, who in all 
ages and countries, shall ever partake of it, but so as to stand 



25 

for ever ah evidence of the Divine foresight of him, by whom 
it was thus consecrated for the use of men. 

The sacramental character of the Lord's Supper is of 
the greatest importance; it is an oath of fidlelity taken to our 
Divine Master, as a soldier in ancient times, bound himself by 
an oath, to be true to his Prince or Commander ; it is an oath, 
not indeed, taken in words, but by the holiest of all symbols, 
namely — the holding in our hands, and partaking of the sym- 
bols of the body and blood of our Redeemer, that we will be 
true to his service ; that we will avoid all known sin, practice 
all known duty, take the example of our Lord as the model 
of our lives, and endeavour in all things, to obey the pure and 
charitable precepts which he has given us. Here, we have 
another beautiful adaptation of the solemnity, to the wants and 
welfare of men ; for it is of great moment that there should be 
times when a man may recall his thoughts from their wander- 
ings, and solemnly devote himself to the service of that Being 
who has given him his place in life, and made him capable of 
offering unto him a reasonable service; and what time s.o 
proper for this solemn vow ; what service so likely to impress 
it upon ones heart, and to give it every awful and touching 
sanction, as that in which we thank God for his great mercy, 
in sending his Son to be a partaker of our nature, and to 
die for our sins, in which we appear-as supplicants for that 
pardon, which we all feel ourselves to need, and humbly hope, 
through Christ, for that eternal life, which is not denied for 
his sake, to any that come to him with true purpose of heart. 

The Supper, says the Evangelist, being ended, and Jesus 
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, 
and that he was come from God, and went to God, he riselh 
from Supper and laid aside his garments, and took a towel 



26 

and girded himself. After that, lie poured water into a bason, 
and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with 
the towel with which he was girded. So after he had washed 
their feet, and had taken his garments and was set down again, 
he said unto them : know ye what I have done to you ? Ye 
call me Lord and Master ; and ye say well, for so I am. If I, 
then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also 
ought to wash one another's feet : for I have given you an 
example, that ye should do as I have done to you. The inti- 
mate communion and fellowship taught by this incident, ought 
to prevail among all those who partake of the solemnity, and 
are united in its performance with their Divine Master: because 
it is of the greatest value. They pledge themselves to kindly 
feelings and good offices to each other ; and as all are united, 
the rich and poor, the wise and ignorant, great and low, meet 
at the same ordinance, eat the same bread and drink of the 
same cup, to remind them that all distinctions are for the time 
lost in the recollection of higher and more interesting relations, 
and that consequently the same feelings of good will ought to 
be carried into all the scenes of familiar and active life. In 
this Sacrament we commemorate the love of God manifested 
through Christ, in forgiving the offences of men, proclaiming 
free pardon to all who bear the sinfulness of this our human 
nature. Hence the duty of universal pity and charity to the 
human race, flows from the ceremony, and from our prepara- 
tion for it, with peculiar effect to every human heart. At such 
times we feel inclined to forgive our enemies, and to be recon- 
ciled to those whom we imagine to have done us wrong : and 
indeed such is the sanctifying power of the solemnity, that the 
most untutored mind, while engaged in its performance, must 
feel that one of the most inconsistent of al! things would be the 
provoking or indulging enmity against any human being. 



27 

Now it is evidently of great moment, that there should be 
seasons when the duty of mutual forgiveness ; of being recon- 
ciled to enemies ; of silencing every angry passion in our 
bosoms, and of indulging the sublime and purifying feeling 
of love to the whole human race, should be conscientiously 
performed by every one of us ; and what service so likely to 
dispose the heart to perform this duty as that in which we 
appear before God to thank him for the pardon of our manifold 
sins and offences, and to commemorate his boundless pity and 
truly divine love in sending his Son in the likeness of man, 
that through him we might have strong consolation and good 
hope, through grace. 

The Eucharist is distinguished in a very remarkable 
manner from the more solemn ceremonies of ancient times, by 
its wonderful simplicity and easiness of performance. This 
characteristic, which to vulgar eyes seems to place it below the 
more splendid ceremonial of Jewish and Heathen worship, fits 
it for many of the most valuable purposes, and confers upon 
it superior excellence and beauty ; it rests upon the kindest 
affections the most holy recollections ; it is a repetition of 
Christ's last Supper with his chosen friends ; a devout com- 
memoration of his death. Nor is it less distinguished from the 
pompous services of other times, by the extent of its duration. 
All other ceremonies terminate with the nations which have 
adopted them ; but the last Supper is intended to continue as 
long as the world, and not to give place to any other service. 
Nor is it less distinguished from the more remarkable cere- 
monies of all other nations, by the intended universality of its 
adoption among men ; — for it is not only to last while time en- 
dures, but with the Gospel itself it is destined to be diffused among 
all nations, and thus to become in time, what by its nature it is 
fitted to be — the grand festival of the human race. And 



23 

this it is more especially calculated to be from the precious 
and universally felt nature of the blessings it commemorates, 
"and the wants it professes to supply. It is a thanksgiving for 
pardon of sin ; for divine pity manifested to a sinful race of 
beings ; for good news published from heaven to earth ; for 
the blessed hope of everlasting life. Now these are the greatest 
of all conceivable blessings, and those for which the hearts of 
all the children of men have ever felt the most deep seated and 
abiding wish. 

The beauty and excellence of the Eucharistical service 
will appear in a most interesting light from the farther conside- 
ration, that it is rather one of pure and humble feeling, of good 
intention, and of charitable thoughts and moving recollections, 
than of profound knowledge, or of any of the more valued 
qualifications towards which the ambition of men is often 
erroneously directed : it seeks rather to promote thS best state 
of the feelings of men, or set their hearts right, than to aug- 
ment their intellectual wealth ; and the most acceptable wor- 
shipper is not the man who is best acquainted with all the 
mysteries of the service, or who has formed to himself the 
justest and most affecting estimate of its nature, but the man 
in every rank and in every degree of culture, who approaches 
it with the most sincere sense of his own frailties ; the truest 
gratitude for divine mercy ; the most determined pursuit of all 
holiness, and the most fervent charity and good will to all who 
bear the same human nature. 

These different and striking characteristics, as well as the 
nature and object of the institution, prove that although con- 
fined to the twelve on its first celebration, it was designed to 
be a perpetual ordinance of the Church, and to become the 
privilege of her children. All, therefore, who stand related 



29 

to Christ as the disciples did ; all who look for salvation by his 
death, and who after the way of his appointment have been 
grafted into his Church ; all to whom the Saviour has been 
manifested as Lord and Christ — are called upon to partake of 
the Holy Eucharist. In the primitive Church, every adult 
christian who had not been set aside for his unworthiness, was 
a frequent communicant ; — indeed the Church itself invites all 
such as shall be religiously and devoutly disposed : for the com- 
mand of our Lord is — drink ye all of it ; and who that looks 
for salvation by the blood of Christ, can abstain from the grate- 
ful commemoration of his death. If there be among christians 
one duty which may be .raised above another, when all rest 
upon the same authority of their Lord, it is that of observing 
with proper affections the rite which he hath ordained for the 
perpetual commemoration of his death, as the sacrifice-for sin; 
a sacrifice without which we could never have had any certain 
assurance of forgiveness : for he was not a man merefy, but 
was also one who, being in the form of God, " thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God, yet, made himself of no repu- 
tation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross." In this point of view, the general 
and frequent attendance upon the Last Supper, is well calcu- 
lated to make upon our minds impressions of deep regret for 
our sins, and hearty resolutions of amendment. 

The Lord's Supper suggests in a most emphatic manner, 
our Saviour's second coming, to which the faithful look for- 
ward, when all his promises will be completed, and those 
whom he approves, will be made happy with him for ever. The 
very form of the Sacrament justifies St. Paul's explanation ; 
that it shews forth the Lord's death, in the belief, that he will 



30 

come again in the glory of his Father, to judge the World. 
He will no longer wander over an obscure part of the earth, a 
poor and neglected stranger, scorned by the wicked, and 
scarcely acknowledged by any of the good, suffering all the 
misfortunes incident to human life, and finally enduring the 
punishment of a criminal; but he will appear sitting on the 
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven, 
and every kindred, and tongue, and nation, shall be gathered 
before him. If we determine therefore, to be good and faith- 
ful servants, we are well assured that our Master has the power 
as well as the will, to reward us, and grateful ought we to be, 
that our Saviour, by the institution of this Sacrament, has given 
us a solemn opportunity of frequently calling to mind the 
great leading maxim of the Christian life ; that we are 
strangers in a foreign land, travellers through a scene of 
danger, combatants in a serious warfare, and that we must fix 
our eyes on our true country, and bear up with faith and hope. 

At no time has the devout Christian so clear an impression 
of the Divinity of our Saviour, as in this the most solemn act 
of religious worship, in which he can engage. He feels that 
Jesus is that Divine person which in so man}' places he declares 
himself to be. The Divine person whom the Prophets foretold 
and the Apostles taught, was the Son of the highest; Immanuel, 
God with us; God manifest in the flesh, the true God and eter- 
nal life; a proper object of religious worship to men and an- 
gels; possessed of all the perfections, maintaining all the func- 
tions, and taking part in all the operations of Deity. But 
rapturous emotions, or any preternatural manifestations of 
Divine love, will not be looked for by sober and faithful Chris- 
tians. Yet they know and feel that blessings of a most sub- 
stantial and most satisfying kind will not fail to accompany a 
becoming preparation for this Sacrament, and to follow the 



si 

vows they have taken. They read in Scripture, that from the 
participation of this holy supper, they may justly expect that 
their views of the Divine economy and of the purpose of Christ's 
assuming human nature, shall be extended and brightened ; that 
their resolutions of new obedience shall be confirmed and 
realized; that their love to the whole human family shall be 
encreased; and that the assurance of blessed immortality shall 
be gradually advanced to a joy unspeakable and full of glor}\ 
Surely these are blessings of the most precious and truest kind, 
and we are authorised by Christ, without presumption, to believe 
that they will be conferred upon every sincere communicant: 
Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed, therefore let us keep the 
feast; he was the true sacrifice, the Paschal Lamb, by whose 
blood we obtain remission of our sins, are sanctified and saved, 
Therefore, the memory of this precious sacrifice, and of all the 
blessings which flow from it, is to be observed by a feast fre- 
quently to be repeated by all Christians to the second advent. 
Then shall our Saviour's power shine forth over all flesh ia 
its meridian glory, when the mystery of God shall be finished, 
and when we shall see and feel our interest in the glory of him, 
who is the bond of union between things in heaven and things 
on earth. 

It is manifest that in coming to the Lord's Supper, the 
communicant should have a clear and satisfactory conception 
of the nature, the object and value of the institution; he should 
consider it as the primitive Christians undoubtedly did, a true 
and proper sacrifice, and indeed the noblest we are capable of 
offering, for it calls upon us to give alms and oblations to the 
poor, the sacrifice of prayer from a pure heart : the sacrifice of 
praise and thanksgiving to God the Father, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ; the sacrifice of a penitent and contrite heart; 
the sacrifice of ourselves, our souls and bodies ; and the sacri- 



32 

fice of faith and hope and self humiliation, in commemorat- 
ing the grand sacrifice made by our Redeemer, and resting 
entirely on it as our atonement. In such a service, and so 
viewed, the heart and the affections must be right: we feel the 
sinfulness of our own nature, and are aware of the love of God, 
in sending Jesus Christ his Son to be a propitiation for our 
sins, and we are induced to accept with gratitude the offers of 
pardon, which are made in the Gospel through Jesus Christ, 
to those who sincerely repent of their iniquities. Such views 
and considerations naturally induce us to break off every unholy 
habit, to resolve to live in obedience to God's holy laws for the 
time to come, and cherish a spirit of love to the whole human 
family, and consequently be willing to be reconciled to any with 
whom we are living in enmity. To profit by this Sacrament, 
we must prepare ourselves by continued and earnest prayer, 
that God may command his blessing from on high, and that his 
Spirit may prepare us for doing in an acceptable manner this 
honourable and solemn service. We must qualify ourselves 
by knowledge of the Scriptures : faith, repentance, love and 
new obedience, and the means appointed for obtaining the 
requisite qualifications are, retirement, serious self examination, 
reading the Book of Revelation, humble prayer for the sanc- 
tifying and strengthening influences of the Holy Spirit: and 
all these should rather be habitual than occasional, for the sin- 
cere Christian is always prepared to come to the table of the 
Lord and is ever ready to confess, and desirous to forsake his 
sins : he rests entirely on the merits of the Redeemer, and gra- 
titude warms his bosom at every remembrance of his love. 

Rut let no true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ keep 
back from this holy ordinance, from mistaken notions of the 
measure and degree of preparation which it becomes him to 
possess, in order to engage in it with profit and acceptance. 



S3 

The coming to the Lord's Supper is as much the duty as it is 
the privilege of the sincere Christian, and none such ought on 
slight grounds to exclude himself from this ordinance. It is 
appointed by that Being whom we acknowledge and are bound 
to love, as our Saviour whom we reverence, as the Lord of all 
things whom we have confessed as our master and instructor, 
and have pledged ourselves in our baptismal covenant, to serve 
and obey: it is a positive institution of that Saviour, in a con- 
formity to whose will, safety and happiness, improvement and 
final approbation, will always be found. Great indeed are the 
inducements and powerful the reasons which should bring all 
the followers of the Lamb to his holy table, nor ought any to 
cherish excuses for so fatal an omission. Are they conscious 
of sin ? Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, who 
turn unto him with penitent hearts and lively faith. Are they 
deficient in repentance and faith ? — but will they ever escape 
from this sad state of bondage, if they deny themselves 
the appointed means of grace, and refuse to receive the Re- 
deemer in his veiled presence at his holy table ? This is a 
direct act of disobedience added to their iniquities, and how 
shall they under such circumstances approach him in the un- 
veiled display of his glory, when he cometh in judgment? 
Are they scandalized because they see many going to the Sup- 
per of the Lord f who seem altogether unworthy. This is 
indeed afflicting and humiliating, but the unworthiness of others 
can never pollute the ordinance to us. Judas, the basest of 
men, was present at the first celebration of the Supper, and 
hence we learn that duties which others prostitute or perform 
insincerely, we are not on that account to neglect. Are anv 
deterred from the fear that they may not subsequently live up 
to their obligations? This may be humble, but it implies a 
forgetfulness of the baptismal covenant, which imposes the same 



34 

obligations, the same faith and duties : nor should it be forgot- 
ten, that when our exertions are faithful, God's grace is suffi- 
cient for us, and that when we are weak, then he is strong. 
And let no Christians think that because he that receiveth the 
Sacrament unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own condemna- 
tion, that therefore he that receiveth it not hath chosen the better 
and safer part, for as those are condemned who come not to 
the Lord's Supper with a due preparation of mind, so are they 
condemned who willingly refuse to come forward. Some are 
perhaps deterred from the striking observation of St. Paul, 
"That he who eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and 
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." 
Now by "damnation" is not here meant, as many suppose, 
everlasting destruction, but the immediate disapprobation, the 
displeasure of the most High, which displeasure is mani- 
fested as the Apostle states, by visiting unworthy communicants 
with temporal judgments, in order to their final salvation : at 
the same time, it were to be wished that the word damnation 
had been rendered condemnation, as it ought to have been, and 
as it actually has been in a subsequent verse of the same chap- 
ter. Moreover, the Apostle is here addressing himself to the 
Corinthians, who had fallen into an irreverent and in some 
cases a profane manner of celebrating the Lord's Supper. — 
Against this irreverence, St. Paul with great propriety employs 
the most severe reprehension : but his solemn sentence will not 
light upon those who qualify themselves in a becoming manner 
for receiving this Sacrament. And let it also be remembered, 
that although it is desirable, that all who come to the altar 
should come with happy feelings and glowing affections, fully 
prepared to admire the beauty of the Lord, to relish the provi- 
sions of his love, and with joyful lips to sing his praise : yet 
there may be true principle, where there is not perfection, real 



35 



faith where there is not strong faith, a warm heart towards the 
Saviour, while the eye that looks to him is dimmed with tears, 
and the hand trembles that lays hold of the hem of his garment. 
The altar is provided with encouragement, as well as nourish- 
ment, and is spread not more for those who are going on the 
way rejoicing, than for those who mourn in Zion ; for every 
case a Divine supply is prepared. Let our faith be only in 
lively exercise, and it will be found that there is no want in the 
Christian experience for which the love of the Saviour has not 
made a suitable provision. 

The benefits to be derived from a worthy participation in 
the Eucharist, have been in a great measure already antici- 
pated ; and indeed if we think ourselves bound either in duty 
or policy to promote our greatest happiness, to establish a title 
to the blessings of this life and that which is to come, we can- 
not more effectually do so, than after we have examined our- 
selves, by eating of that bread and drinking of that cup: for 
in so doing, we are admitted into the privilege of entering into 
a state of reconciliation with God, whom we have in so many 
ways offended by the breach of our former vows and promises : 
God the Father engaging to pardon and forgive us ; God the 
Son to continue his intercession for us; and God the Holy 
Ghost to quicken and assist us with his heavenly influences; 
and the whole ever blessed Trinity to conduct us to the king- 
dom of glory; in this manner is our condition in the world 
sanctified, so that whether we are poor or rich, sick or in health, 
all things will certainly work together for the best, and God 
himself will choose for us, who not only knows better than we 
ourselves do what is most for our benefit, but likewise is more 
affectionate and constant in the procuring it for us. 

The Eucharist is a sacrificial feast, instituted in memory 
of Christ's death, and conveys, as the Church expresses it, an 



36 

toward and spiritual grace, and all the benefits at which a sacri- 
fice arrived : as pardon, favour and thanksgiving. It imparts 
to us the benefits of a sin offering; namely, atonement and for- 
giveness, expressed in the words, " This is my body given for 
the remission of sins,' , and restores to us the power of receiv- 
ing every cummunication of Divine grace necessary to our 
future and eternal salvation : it farther includes the benefits of 
a peace offering, expressed in the words, " Take eat, this is my 
body," clearly intimating that by the nature of the ordinance 
we are placed in a state of acceptance with God : it is moreover 
a federal rite, for in drinking the blood of the new covenant, 
we obviously apply to ourselves all the precious benefits pro. 
cured by that covenant, by which we have justification, peace 
and the gift of grace ; that is, sanctification, in truth ail the 
fruits of the spirit. So just is the account of the Lord's Sup- 
per given by our Church : — "The Sacrament of the Lord's 
" Supper is not a badge or token of a Christian man's profes- 
" sion, but rather a certain and sure witness and effectual sign 
" of grace, and God's good will towards us, by which he doth 
" work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also 
" strengthen and confirm our faith in him." 

It will be seen from the remarks already made, how inte- 
resting, how obligatory, how holy and significant, how proper 
and useful, this Sacrament of the Supper is: and yet a leading 
cause of its neglect is a thoughtlessness as to its true nature 
and importance. Many persons never seriously consider it as 
the true and proper act of Christian worship : as an ordinance, 
which by their baptismal vows they are solemnly pledged to 
observe and keep as a Sacrament, instituted for the whole body 
of the Church, which no member can neglect without great 
detriment to his spiritual life. 



37 

They have never reflected that this ordinance was not 
made for a few, but for all the followers of Christ, and they 
allow themselves to think, that because they are unfit, it is inno- 
cent if not meritorious to abstain from this Sacrament. They 
forget that this unfitness proclaims aloud the degeneracy of 
their character, and the peril of their condition. Their un- 
worthiness to appear at this heavenly banquet ought to be a 
new motive to urge them to make their peace and effect their 
Reconciliation with God ; to seek the wedding garment of holi- 
ness and righteousness, that they may thus be meet partakers 
of these holy mysteries: it is the duty of all real Christians to 
approach the table of the Lord, in order to seal their covenant 
with God; so long as they know and acknowledge that they 
are utterly unfit for this sublime duty and privilege of the chil- 
dren of God ; they confess themselves his enemies, and are in 
danger of being everlastingly excluded from the Divine pre- 
sence : he that is unfit to come to the Lord's Supper, is unfit 
for death, unfit for judgment, and unfit for heaven. 

Let no person however suppose, that they ought lightly 
to come forward and give an unmeaning attendance at the altar 
of the Lord : if they are blasphemous, slanderers, unclean, 
malicious, or living in the habitual breach of any of the com- 
mandments, let them repent sincerely of their sins before 
they come to that holy table : but to the young, I would speak 
the words of encouragement, — come with holy boldness to your 
father's table ; nor would I speak harshly to those who feel a 
conscious disqualification that for a season keeps them back ; 
the scruples of a tender conscience require the kindest treat- 
ment, as they indicate a state of mind not inaccessible to warn- 
ing and entreaty. Let such place themselves on the ground 
on which alone sinners can stand; confess themselves unwor- 
thy, and pray that their iniquity may be taken away ; let them 



38 

plead what Christ hath done to take away sin : dwell with con- 
fidence on his merits, his righteous life, his atoning death, his 
triumphant resurrection — his perpetual advocacy ; and coming 
thus to God through Christ, they may dismiss all their fears of 
being rejected : he will receive them graciously, he will love 
them freely, he will place them among his children, and number 
them among his jewels : henceforth they will draw, with joy, 
water out of the well of salvation ; with enlargement of mind 
will^they join themselves to their fellow disciples, to profess a 
faith and love, no longer strangers to their bosoms, and with 
them look forward to a place at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb in the sanctuary above. 



SECTION II. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST. 



According to the Church, of England. According to the Church of Rome. 



" The Supper of the Lord is not only 
" a sign of the love that Christians ought 
" to have among themselves one to ano- 
" ther; but rather is a Sacrament of our 
"redemption by Christ's death; inso- 
" much that to such as rightly, worthily 
" and with faith receive the same, the 
" bread which we break, is a partaking 
" of the body of Christ ; and likewise 
" the cup of blessing is a partaking of 
" the blood of Christ. 

" Transubstantiation (or the change 
" of the substance of bread and wine) 
" in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be 
" proved by holy writ ; but is repugnant 
" to the plain words of Scripture, over- 
" throweth the nature of a Sacrament, 
u and hath given occasion to many su- 
". perstitions, 

" The body of Christ is given, taken 
" and eaten in the Supper, only after an 
" heavenly and spiritual manner. And 
" the mean whereby the body of Christ 
" is received, and eaten in the Supper, 
" is faith. 

" The Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
" per was not by Christ's ordinance 
-" reserved, carried about, lifted up or 
" worshipped." 

28th Article of Religion. 



" I do likewise profess, that in the 
" Mass there is offered a true, proper 
" and propitiatory sacrifice for the living 
" and the dead ; and that the body and 
" blood, together with the soul and divi- 
" nity of our Lord Jesus Christ, arc 
" truly, really and substantially in the 
" most Holy Sacrament of the Lord's 
" Supper; and that the whole substance 
" of the bread is turned into the body, 
" and the whole substance of the wine is 
" turned into the blood, which change 
" the Catholic Church calls Transub- 
" stantiation. 

" I do also profess, that whole and 
" entire Christ, and a true Sacrament, 
" is received under one kind only." 

17th <§• 18th Articles of the Creed, esta- 
blished by Pope Pious the Fourth, and the 
Council of Trent. 



On referring to the Gospels, we find that our Lord, at the insti- 
tution of the Eucharist, did three things:— First. He took the 
bread and the cup of the Jewish Paschal Supper, and separated 
and consecrated them, making them the representative figures, 
symbols or substitutes of his body and blood. Second. He 



40 

oftered them in sacrifice to God, and by these pledges volun- 
tarily gave or offered to God his body and blood as a sacrifice 
upon the cross. Third. He blessed them, that ihey might 
become his body and blood, not in bare figure or representa- 
tion only, as they were made by his separation of them before, 
but in efficacy and life-giving virtue: and as such he gave 
them, with these words, which are the ground of our faith and 
hope: " This is my body which is given for you," "this is my 
blood which is shed for you." After Christ our eternal High 
Priest had performed his own oblation of himself once offered, 
that one all sufficient sacrifice, which gave virtue to all the rest 
before, as well as after his appearing, he authorized and com- 
manded his Apostles, and in ihem all their successors in the 
Christian Priesthood, to do as he had done, although not to 
the same end : for what he did was in order to his actual death 
of inexhaustible merit, but what we do is in order to comme- 
morate and receive the mercies and blessings of it ; to perpetuate 
under the figures or representations, which he had appointed 
the memorial of his death and sacrifice ; to plead his merits 
with the Father, and to obtain all the benefits which by his 
death he purchased for mankind, pardon, grace and eternal 
glory: "Do this" he said, " in remembrance of me." 

The most essential part of the Eucharist is the symbolical 
use of bread and wine, which Christ ordained for our instruc- 
tion, and the form of words with which he taught us to accom- 
pany it. Now a corruption in its celebration may take place 
in two ways ; first, by omiuiDg any essential part ; or second, 
by appending to it circumstances inconsistent with its true cha- 
racter: of both these kinds of corruption the primitive Church 
was wholly guiltless, as most evidently appears from the ac- 
counts handed down of the manner they adopted in its celebra- 
tion. The Bishop or Priest first gave thanks to God for all 



41 



;$■■■ 



his mercies, especially for those of creation and redemption ; 
then to shew the authority by which he was acting, and his 
obedience to the commands of Christ, he recited the words of 
the institution of the Holy Sacrament which he was celebrating : 
in doing this, he took the bread into his hands, and brake it, 
to represent the body of Christ ; the cup also of wine, to repre- 
sent the blood ; — over the bread and the cup, he repeated 
Christ's powerful words : " This is my body," " this is my 
blood;" the elements being thus made the symbols or repre- 
sentations of Christ's crucified body and blood, were offered to 
God as the great and acceptable sacrifice of the Christian 
Church. The Bishop or Priest continued his prayer, and 
intreated the Almighty Father to send upon the bread and wine 
the Holy Spirit to sanctify and bless them, and to make them 
Christ's spiritual life-giving body in power and virtue, that to 
all the faithful they might be effectual to all spiritual purposes. 
The officiating Bishop or Priest then received the Eucharist in 
both kinds himself, and proceeded to deliver it in both kinds to 
the people. In these days the utmost simplicity prevailed ; to 
have reserved any part of the Eucharist for the Ministers alone, 
or for any one privileged class of believers, would have been 
to manifest a violation of that great principle of equality recog- 
nized by the Gospel, that in the sight of God there is no respect 
of persons. The communion of the body and blood of Christ 
was deemed a privilege of the most precious kind, to which 
every convert was entitled ; and so far was the Church from 
throwing any impediment in the way, that she earnestly and 
affectionately invited all her members to partake of this holy 
Sacrament; and it was long thought to be inconsistent with 
the Christian profession, to be otherwise than a regular com- 
municant. 



42 

Nearly fifty of the most ancient Liturgies have been col- 
lected, among which we find one, which has been attributed to 
St. James, our Lord's brother, and which was assuredly con- 
stantly used in the very first age in the Church of Jerusalem. 
This Liturgy may be justly considered one of the most preci- 
ous monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity, and its strict con- 
formity with the account given by St. Cyril of his service, is a 
demonstrative proof that it has come down to us in all its origi- 
nal purity and simplicity. Now, however much these numerous 
Liturgies differ in other things, they agree with that of St. 
James, and with each other in their manner of consecrating 
the elements, and in their distribution : the consecration is 
solemnized by the three steps already noticed. 

1st. The words of our Saviour's institution, containing 
the Priest's authority to celebrate the solemn office, and his 
setting apart the elements, as the representatives of his body 
and blood, broken and shed for the sins of the world, by pro- 
nouncing over them the words of Christ : " This is my body," 
" this is my blood." 2nd. A solemn oblation or offering of 
these instituted memorials, in sacrifice to God the Father, com- 
memorative of his Son's death and passion. 3rd. Prayer for 
God's acceptance and blessing upon them by his Holy Spirit, 
sanctifying them through his Divine power, so as to make 
them the spiritual life-giving body and blood of Christ, and 
the means of conveying to the well disposed receiver, all the 
benefits purchased by our Lord's sacrifice for mankind, par- 
don, grace, and eternal life. 

In accordance with the ancient Liturgies and Eucharistic 
services of the Church universal in its primitive times are the 
sentiments of the Christian authors of those ages, commonly 
called the Fathers. These form a cloud of witnesses to the 
commemorative sacrifice, representative and yet efficacious 



43 

and communicative of the blessings obtained for us by Christ's 
body and blood. This Holy Sacrament, says Ireneus, (quoting 
one out of many,) consists of two parts, an earthly and an 
heavenly : bread and wine from the earth, but the body and 
blood of Christ in spirit, power and heavenly efficacy. Far 
indeed were the Father's from imagining any change in the 
bread and wine, but only in their qualities, by the sanctifying 
power of the Divine spirit, for so the blessed author of the 
high and heavenly mystery had taught them " it is the spirit 
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I 
speak unto you are spirit, and they are life." Thus we have 
seen, and it deserves our particular attention, that in all the 
forms of administering the Eucharist handed down from the 
first ages, the most harmonious concurrence prevailed, and that 
the three important points noticed above, were invariably intro- 
duced in the same order. Nor did the Church of Rome, then 
a highly respected Church, for purity as well as station, differ 
(nor for many ages after) from the Church of Jerusalem or 
other Churches, in the celebration of the Eucharist, all of them 
arranged the service in the same order, and gave to the words 
the same interpretation. We have further the unanimous testi- 
mony of all the ancient Fathers and early writers of the Chris- 
tian Church from the very beginning, and for many ages 
downward, that this is the true and real import of our Lord's 
command, and that their manner of administering the Eucha- 
rist is the only way in which it ought to be administered. — 
From all this the fullest conviction arises, that such is our 
Saviour's gracious will on this his last and dying command : 
antiquity, universality and consent, all concurring in this just 
interpretation of scriptural truth, and in the administration of 
the Lord's Supper, in both kinds to communicants. This 
universal testimony of the Church cannot deceive us : that 



44 

which was taught and practiced in all considerable Churches, 
for the first four centuries, must be of apostolical authority ; 
and indeed without this testimony of the Church, it is impos- 
sible to prove the canon of the New Testament, or to establish 
the authority of the books which it contains, and surely there 
can be no testimony so satisfactory in ascertaining the nature 
and design of the Holy Eucharist, as that of the primitive 
Church. To her we are indebted for the authenticity of the 
records of the institution, and to her we must look for rightly 
understanding the mind and will of the Apostles, from whom 
she received the records of our Lord, and by whose doctrines 
and practice she was instructed in their true meaning. 

Had the Scriptures represented the Lord's Supper, as sim- 
ply a memorial of our Saviour's death, there would have been 
little room for variety of opinion ; but these are expressions, 
both in the words of the institution and in other places of 
Scripture, which open a further view of this ordinance, and 
which differently apprehended, may give rise to some difference 
of sentiment. In the words of the institution, Jesus calls the 
cup, " the New Testament or covenant in my blood," this im- 
plies some connexion between the cup drunk in the Lord's 
Supper, and the new covenant, which may call forth some 
variety of conception. He likewise says, "This is my body, 
this is my blood," which implies a sacredness, of the degrees 
of which different apprehensions may be entertained respecting 
their connexion. The Apostle St. Paul, in reciting the words 
of the institution to the Corinthians, for the purpose of cor- 
recting certain improprieties in celebrating this ordinance, 
speaks of the guilt and danger of eating and drinking unwor- 
thily, in a manner which to some conveys an awful idea of the 
sanctity of the Lord's Supper, and to many suggests the most 
precious benefits, as the certain consequences of eating and 



45 

drinking worthily. Now as these passages of Scripture would 
naturally give rise to some difference of opinion respecting 
the ordinance, in some of its aspects it seems to indicate the 
special care of the holy spirit, that the Eucharistic service of 
the Church has ever been so carefully framed upon the apostolic 
model, that during the first eight ages, not the smallest inno- 
vation was ever attempted, and even now, with the exception 
of the Roman Church, which has departed from the primitive 
usage, almost all other regular Churches, even to that recently 
discovered in the Mountains of Malabar, however divided 
among themselves in other respects, exhibit in the service of 
the Eucharist the most harmonious concurrence. This must of 
itself carry strong conviction to every candid mind, that such 
was the true meaning and form of our Redeemer's most holy 
institution, and according to which his Apostles acted and 
instructed. 

But the spirit of God does not always contend with the 
spirit of man, and the mental darkness, which for many ages 
overspread Europe, the natural progress of error, the credulity 
of superstition, and the artifice of designing men, multiplied 
corruptions in the Church, and produced a firm belief in the 
most incredible things. But neither the veneration for reliques, 
the prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints, are to be 
compared, unscriptural as they are, to the victory obtained in 
the thirteenth century, by Pope Innocent, over the common 
understanding of man in establishing transubstantiation : it is 
indeed the most astonishing departure from common sense re- 
corded in the history of the hnman mind ; for it requires us to 
believe that the words " This is my body," " this is my blood," 
are to be understood in their mere literal sense, that when 
Jesus pronunced these words he changed, by his Almighty 
power, the bread upon the table into his body, and the wine 



46 

into his blood ; and really delivered his body and blood into 
the hands of his disciples ; and that at all times, when the Sup- 
per is administered, the Priest, by pronouncing these words 
with a good intention, has the power of making a similar 
change. This change is called transubstantiation, for it means 
that the bread and wine are not altered in figure, taste, weight 
or any other accident, but that the substance of them is com- 
pletely destroyed, and that of the body and blood of Christ 
substituted for it, that the persons receiving what has been con- 
secrated do not receive bread and wine, but literally partake 
of the body and blood of Christ, and really eat his flesh and 
drink his blood. It is further conceived, by those holding to 
this doctrine, that the bread and wine thus changed are pre- 
sented by the Priest to God; and he receives the name of Priest, 
because in laying them upon the altar he offers to God a sacri- 
fice which, although it is distinguished from all others, by 
being without the shedding of blood, is a true propitiatory 
sacrifice for the sins of the dead and of the living. The body 
and blood of Christ which were presented on the cross are 
again presented in the sacrifice of the Mass. It is conceived 
that the materials of this sacrifice being truly the body and 
blood of Christ, possess intrinsic virtue, which does not de- 
pend upon the disposition of him who receives them, but 
operates immediately on all who do not obstruct the operation 
by a mortal sin. Hence it is accounted of great importance, 
for the salvation of the sick, that parts of these materials 
should be sent to them ; it is further conceived, that as the 
bread and wine when converted into the body and blood of 
Christ, are a natural object of reverence and adoration to 
Christians, it is highly proper to worship them upon the altar, 
and that it is expedient to carry them about in solemn proces- 
sion, that they may receive the homage of all who meet them. 



47 

Hence arose that expression in the Church of Rome, the eleva- 
tion of the Host, Elevatio Hostice. But as the wine, in being 
carried about, was exposed to accidents inconsistent with the 
veneration due to the body and blood of Christ, it became cus- 
tomary to send only the bread, and in order to satisfy those 
who for this reason did not receive the wine, they were taught 
that, as the bread was changed into the body of Christ, they 
necessarily partook of the blood with the body of which the 
flesh retained particles or drops. In process of time, the peo- 
ple were not allowed to partake of the cup, and it was said 
when Jesus spake these words, "drink ye all of it," he was 
addressing himself only to his Apostles, so that his command 
was fulfilled, when the Priests, the successors of the Apostles 
drank of the cup, although the people were excluded : and 
thus the last part of this system conspired with the first in ex- 
alting the Clergy above the Laity, for the same persons who 
had the power of changing bread and wine into the body and 
blood of Christ, and who presented what they had just made 
as a sacrifice for the sins of others, enjoyed the privilege of 
partaking of the cup, while communion in one kind only, was 
permitted the people. 

Such is the doctrine imposed upon the Church by Pope 
Innocent, not that this Prince was its inventor, for during the 
great ignorance, depravity and superstition of the ninth cen- 
tury, Pascasius, Abbot of Corbey, was, according to Cardinal 
Bellarmine, the first who wrote in express terms upon the sub- 
ject : but though not the inventor, the honor of establishing it 
as an article of faith belongs to Innocent the Third, for he had 
sufficient influence in the fourth Lateran Council, held in 1215, 
to get it inserted as a necessary matter of belief, it was farther 
confirmed in the Council of Trent, and at length inserted in 
the Roman Catholic Creed, promulgated by Pope Pious the 
Fourth, in 1564. 



48 

When this extraordinary doctrine was first proposed by 
Pascasius, it was most strenuously resisted as untenable and 
hostile to the simplicity, truth and beauty of the Christian 
Theology, by the most learned and pious men of the age. — 
Raban, Archbishop of Mentz, a Prelate, deeply skilled in the 
Latin, Greek and Hebrew Languages, celebrated for his great 
erudition, and deemed the glory of Germany, opposed this 
innovation with determined hostility. Scotus, also so much 
celebrated for his skill in Languages, Philosophy and Theo- 
logy, wrote against the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and his 
work circulated through Christendom more than two hundred 
years without incurring the charge of heresy or experiencing 
any mark of reprobation from Pope, Council, Clergy or Laity. 
Bertram, esteemed for the sanctity of his character, and his 
profound attainments in Science and Theology, wrote a book 
on the body and blood of the Lord, in answer to the interpre- 
tation of Pascasius, which was widely disseminated through 
the Christian world, and was never condemned for heresy. — 
Many other eminent men wrote and contended against this 
novel doctrine, whose names in a brief review like this, need 
not be mentioned : and it is the less necessary, as the free and 
extensive circulation which the publications of Scotus and Ber- 
tram obtained, without even any insinuation of error, must, to 
every unprejudiced mind, furnish irresistible proof of their con- 
formity to the received doctrine of the Church in the ninth 
century, and that transubstantiation was then a novelty. — 
Indeed the very fact that this doctrine produced the most 
bitter contention from its first publication till it was confirmed 
two hundred years after by the Lateran Council, is demonstra- 
tive of its novelty, and that before that period it was totally 
unknown to the Church. It has therefore no claim to Eccle- 
siastical antiquity, for the Church in her primitive days of 



49 

simplicity and piety, and even after many inferior corruptions 
had crept in, believed without exception till the ninth century 
that the bread and wine retained their own nature or substance, 
and conveyed nourishment to the human body. She farther 
believed that they were made to the faithful the channels of the 
most precious blessings, and sanctified by the prayer of conse- 
cration ; that they underwent a moral change similar to the 
water in baptism. Had the doctrine of transubstantiation been 
true, how came it to be hid from the Apostles and first Chris- 
tians, from the Churches in the East and in the West, from all 
the followers of Christ for more than eight hundred years ; and 
why was it left to struggle nearly eight hundred years longer 
before it was adopted by the ruling part of only one denomi- 
nation of Christians., while on the other hand, almost all Chris- 
tians, for more than eighteen centuries, have held the same 
doctrine concerning the elements of bread and wine as the 
Church of England now does ; and even now the belief of 
transubstantiation introduced upon human authority is confined 
to the Roman Church, and believed to be only received in a 
qualified sense by a portion of her members. 

It is evident that the doctrine of transubstantiation rests 
upon the strictly literal meaning of the words, "This is my 
body," " this is my blood." Now it has been shewn that they 
were not so read and understood in the primitive Church, by 
which they were taken in a figurative sense, as if our Lord had 
said, this represents my body, this represents my blood; or, 
this signifies my body, this signifies my blood : expressions of 
this sort are common in all languages ; on looking at a medal 
we naturally say, this is Julias Csesar ; or at Mr. Pitt's bust, 
this is Pitt. In Scripture they are very numerous : thus Joseph, 
in Genesis says, the three branches are three days, the three 
D 



50 

baskets are three days; the seven fat kine are seven years, the 
seven good ears of corn are seven years, that is, signify seven 
years; the rock that followed the Israelites, says St. Paul, was 
Christ, that is represented Christ; thus Daniel, the ram with 
the two horns are the Kings of Media. In the parable of the 
Sower, our Lord says, the seed is the word, and the figure is 
carried through the whole parable ; Christ calls himself the 
door, the vine, and his father the husbandman ; he calls his 
disciples the salt of the earth, the light of the world : St. Paul 
having spoken of Sarah and Hagar, adds, these are the two 
covenants : the seven stars (says St. John) are the angels of 
the seven Churches;, and in the Book of Exodus, after God had 
spoken of the Paschal Lamb, "This is the Lords Passover." 
Now our Saviour, substituting the Holy Communion for the 
Sacrament, follows the style of the Old Testament, and uses 
the same expressions as the Jews were wont to use at the cele- 
bration of the Passover. In all this there is nothing violent, 
so far to the contrary, that common sense prompts such a read- 
ing, and in all of them the speakers give them the same mean- 
ing, as that which we contend for in the passages instituting 
the Lord's Supper. If we refer to the conduct of our Lord at 
the institution, we shall find that the disciples who were present 
could give them no other interpretation, and surely they were 
as competent judges as Pascasius, who did not come into ex- 
istence till more than eight centuries after; nor will it be pre- 
sumptuous in us to understand the Eucharist as St. Peter and 
St. Paul understood it, rather than follow the Abbot of Corbey. 
Our Lord took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke 
the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take eat : this 
is my body ;" now of what did the Saviour speak, but of the 
bread which he had just given them, and which they held in 
their hands; was it not bread still? did he not speak of that 



51 



thing which he took and brake and gave thern ? and what was 
that but the true bread, which he then distributed. It is impos- 
sible to believe, nor did the Apostles present so believe, that 
our Saviour meant this bread is my natural body, this wine is 
my natural blood : on the contrary, acting as a Priest, according 
to the order of Melchisedec, whose sacrifice typical of his was 
the pure offering of bread and wine, our Lord offered the same, 
that is, his own body and blood represented by bread and wine 
as pledges of his body and blood, which the day after hung 
upon the cross, a sacrifice for the sins of the world. When 
our Lord made this oblation, and gave himself at the last Sup- 
per to suffer and to die, under the symbols or substitutes of 
bread and wine, we cannot without horror give them a literal 
interpretation, or think that he would lay violent hands upon 
himself— wound and break up his own body, and shed out his 
own blood: our more rational belief is, that he did, under repre- 
sentatives of his own appointment, figures of his body and 
blood, sure pledges of the real substance, give his body to be 
broken and his blood to be shed by the hands of his crucifiers : 
and in order to shew his transcendant love to lost mankind, he 
made a voluntary oblation of himself while still in perfect 
liberty : no man, he said, taketh away my life from me, but I 
lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I 
have power to take it up again; when therefore he said to the 
Apostles, "Take eat," &c. we are to understand him as saying: 
Take eat; this bread now broken and given to you, is the me- 
morial or representative of my body, which is under this emblem 
now given, offered and devoted to God for you: This do, con- 
tinue to do as 1 have done; and thereby make this memorial 
of me and of what I now do when I am gone from you : and 
drink ye all of this cup, for this cup is the memorial or repre-, 
sentative of my blood, which is now under this emblem devoted 



52 

and offered to God, as shed for you and for many, for the re- 
mission of sins ; do as I have now done, as often as you make 
tiiis memorial of me. 

Moreover, to take the words in their literal sense is to believe 
that the Lord took himself, and gave himself from himself, 
and was eaten even by those disciples that did not touch him ; 
and his blood was drunk by them even whilst it remained in his 
veins : but these things are so totally opposed to the most com- 
mon understanding, that no one can for a moment admit them. 
That the Apostles understood our Saviour in a figurative sense 
evidently appears from the fact, that they expressed neither 
terror nor amazement, as they certainly would have done had 
they understood him otherwise. But they saw and knew what 
he took and broke, that it was the real bread on the table; they 
did not suspect any secret meaning, nor did our Saviour de- 
clare any change, as appears from his own words. St. Paul's 
expressions are inconsistent with any change in the substance 
of the elements, for speaking of the communicants he saith, "for 
as often as ye eat this bread," and again, " we are partakers of 
that one bread," calling it bread after consecration ; for it is 
certain that the elements are not to be eaten nor drunk till they 
are consecrated, and that we are not partakers of the elements 
till we eat and drink them, and yet the Apostle calls it bread 
even after participation, tl for we are partakers of that one 
bread." And our Saviour calls the wine, the fruit of the vine, 
even after the Apostles had drunk it ; he farther says, this cup 
is the New Testament of my blood, which words could not be 
meant in a literal sense, for the cup could not be changed into 
a covenant, though it might be a representation or memorial of 
it. 

Let it be remembered that all languages are more or less 
figurative; and those of Eastern nations are especially so. In 



53 

the Scriptures the diction abounds in figures, and the discourses 
and speeches of our Saviour are full of them. Now to discover 
the true meaning of such words and passages we are not to take 
them in their literal sense, when it would involve an impossi- 
bility. Thus, when God declares the Prophet to be a defen- 
ced city; an iron pillar ; a brazen wail : we must consider the 
words figurative, because taken literally they involve that which 
is impossible : again, when such words and expressions, taken 
literally, are contrary to common sense, or the context, they are 
to be taken figuratively : — thus, when the Psalmist exclaims, 
* f awake, why sleepest thou ? w he means moral, not natural 
sleep. " The blood of Jerusalem," means the blood shed and 
the murder committed by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In ap- 
plying these two rules to the institution of the Lord's Supper 
we find that the literal sense is not only repugnant to sacred 
history and involves an absurdity, but that it is contrary to the 
context, and to many parallel passages : yet upon a forced and 
literal construction of these words the Church of Rome, since 
the thirteenth century, has erected and maintained the doctrine 
of transubstantiation, or of the conversion of the bread and 
wine in the Lord's Supper, into the actual body and blood of 
Christ ; a doctrine which is manifestly repugnant to the plain 
words of Scripture, overthroweth the very nature of a Sacra- 
ment, and giveth rise to many superstitions. In truth, to take 
the words "this is my body," in the sense of transubstantiation, 
is in direct contradiction to the senses as well as to the reason 
of mankind ; and yet the Church of Rome will not understand 
the plain institution of the Sacrament, in both kinds, like men 
who believe not that there is a God who made the world, but 
can swallow a thousand things far more difficult. 

" This is my body," " this is my blood," therefore simply 
mean, this represents my body, this represents my blood ; for 



54 

these words were spoken before Christ's body was broken upoft 
the cross, and before his blood was shed. He could not there- 
fore pronounce them with the intention that they should be 
taken and interpreted literally by his disciples, nor did they so 
understand him ; nor ought it to be forgotten that the Apostles 
at their first council forbid blood ; and would they forbid blood 
and yet enjoin the taking of blood ? In the Syriac, as well as 
the Hebrew and Chaldee languages there is no word which 
expresses " to signify," " represent," or " denote." — Hence 
it is that we find the expression " it is," so frequently used for 
11 represents", " denotes," or " signifies." This is (represents) 
my covenant betwixt thee and me ; this is (represents) the Lord's 
Passover ; the ten horns are (denote) ten kings ; the field is 
(denotes) the world ; the good seed is (represents) the children 
of the kingdom ; the tares are (represent) the children of the 
wicked one ; the enemey is (represents) the devil ; the harvest 
is (represents) the end of the world ; the reapers are (represent) 
the angels. Such expressions may be multiplied from the 
scriptures, but these appear sufficient to shew that any man in 
the present day would use no other terms than those employed 
by our Saviour— " this is my body," " this is my blood," mean- 
ing, this represents my body, this represent my blood, if the 
language in which he was speaking had no other mode of ex- 
pression, as was the case with that used by our Redeemer. — 
Hence we perceive in what sense the consecrated bread and 
wine are the body and blood of Christ ; they are so sacramen- 
tally only, or by representation changed in their qualities, not in 
their substance. They continue bread and wine in their nature; 
they become the body and blood of Christ in signification and 
mystery ; bread and wine to our senses ; the body and blood of 
Christ to our faith ; bread and wine in themselves, the life-giving 
body and blood of Christ in power and virtue. Therefore by 



55 

the appointment of Christ, through the operation of the Holy 
Ghost, the faithful receive in them the efficacy of his sacrifice 
and death, to all spiritual intents and purposes. There is there- 
fore, in this holy institution, no ground for the error of tran- 
substantiation, with which the Roman Catholics have, for five 
centuries, perplexed the Church of Christ. The natural blood 
and body of our Lord are in heaven, in glory and exaltation ; 
we receive them not in communion in -any sense; the bread 
and wine are his body and blood sacramentally and by repre- 
sentation. And as it is an established maxim, that all under 
the law, who did eat of a sacrifice, with those qualifications 
which the sacrifice required, were partakers of its benefits ; so 
all who under the Gospel eat of the Christian sacrifice of bread 
and wine, with the qualifications which the holy solemnity 
requires, are made partakers of all the benefits and blessings of 
that sacrifice of his natural body and blood, which Christ Jesus 
made to God for the sins of the whole world. 

It has been well observed, that it is a sufficient confutation 
of the doctrine of transubstantiation, that it contradicts our 
senses, since we -see and taste that the bread and wine after the 
consecration, and when we actually receive them, still continue 
to be bread and wine without any change or alteration what- 
ever. Moveover, it overthrows the very nature of a Sacra- 
ment, by supposing what we eat and drink to be the thing 
signified, and not the sign. In fine, transubstantiation has no 
foundation in truth, but without reason or necessit}', puts an 
absurd and impossible sense upon the words of our Saviour, 
" This is my body," ''this is my blood," by which it is no more 
proved, than the words, tk This cup of the New Testament," 
prove that the material cup which was used hi the Sacrament, 
was substantially changed into the New Testament : and no 
more than those texts which affirm God to have eyes and ears 



56 

and hands, prove that he really has them. It contradicts four 
of the five senses, and undermines the foundation of all cer- 
tainty. Had the Apostles preached transubstantiation and the 
renouncing of our senses, miracles would have afforded no 
evidence of the truth of the Gospel, for that which depends 
upon the certainty of sense as miracles do, cannot prove that 
which is contrary to sense. Now miracles, which are the 
best and highest external proof of Christianity, oppose transub- 
stantiation as a part of the Christian doctrine, unless we are 
prepared to disbelieve our senses upon the evidence of which 
all miracles rest. A man cannot believe a miracle without 
relying upon his senses, nor can he believe transubstantiation 
without renouncing them. The main evidence and confirma- 
tion of the Christian doctrines, viz : miracles, is resolved into 
the testimony of our senses, but such evidence is against tran- 
substantiation, for as it renounces the senses, miracles can give 
it no confirmation : for that which depends upon the certainty 
of sense, as miracles certainly do, can be no competent argu- 
ment to prove that which is contrary to sense, as transubstan- 
tiation evidently is. 

The Council of Trent, in laying down the doctrine of the 
Mass, seems to draw largely on the credulity of the Roman 
Catholics, for according to their decree, the wafers used in 
the Holy Communion of the Roman Church, are converted 
into the flesh of Christ; and the wine into his blood, each also 
possessing his soul and divinity. Besides, the wafer is con- 
verted into Christ's blood as well as flesh, and likewise the wine, 
so that every wafer, and every drop of wine is perfect Christ, 
of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting, consequently, 
if ten millions of Christians are communicating at the same 
time, there may be in different parts of the world the same 
number of perfect Christ?, he. Now this appears to me to be 



57 

a doctrine which no man able to comprehend the meaning of 
words, can possibly comprehend or believe. Revelation is 
built on the testimony of the senses; and since we are forced to 
believe what reason reluctantly admits — that the Son of God 
became an infant ; that he was crucified ; that he arose from 
the dead ; that he ascended into heaven with a body of flesh 
and blood : these facts we admit on the evidence of the senses 
alone ; nay, we admit them on the evidence of the senses of 
others and not of our own. But the belief demanded by the 
Council of Trent, in the doctrine of transubstantion, invalidates 
the whole of this evidence, for it implies that the senses may 
be deceived, and leaves it impossible to ascertain, when they 
are not deceived. 

Our Lord directed the Apostles, after his resurrection, to 
handle him that they might be convinced that he was not a 
spirit: but had a Roman Catholic been present, and urged 
that their senses were no criterion, for if they handled the wafer 
it would appear bread although actually flesh, and that Jesus 
might appear a body and yet be spirit; it would have been 
impossible to have refuted him, nor under such circumstances 
is there any test to which our Saviour could have appealed. 
Roman Catholic writers endeavour to neutralize the force of 
this argument, by stating the imperfection of our senses and 
their liability to be deceived. In the same manner certain classes 
of enthusiasts deny our reason, and certain heretics the evidence 
of the primitive Church : but such expedients only shew a con- 
sciousness of weakness in the cause they seek to advocate ; our 
senses and our reason, whatever ma}' be their imperfections, 
are our only guides, for by their means we arrive at all our 
knowledge, sacred and profane, it is therefore much wiser to 
improve than to depreciate our faculties. Transubstantiation, 
if true, must be a miracle equal to the greatest and mostincom- 



58 

prehensible that has ever been wrought by the power of God, 
but it rests not on the evidence of our senses as Moses' rod : 
the water turned into blood in Egypt, or into wine at Cana 
of Galilee. These w T ere palpable, open, evident and designed, 
as a testimony of the power of God or the divinity of Christ : 
all the miracles stand upon like proof, a proof open and not 
imperceptible as that alleged in favour of the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation ; had it been otherwise, men would have doubted 
and not believed. I know that it is said, that the belief of this 
doctrine is effected by a supernaturally infused faith, and there- 
fore it is excepted from the general rule : but this answer im- 
plies a total misconception of the nature and objects of a 
divinely infused faith. The work of saving faith is not to 
convince the understanding of facts, but to incline so effectually 
the heart and the will, that they embrace and appropriate the 
consequences, which flowing from those facts affect ourselves. 
Having disposed of this apology, rather than reason for the 
doctrine, we may rest assured, that transubstantiation cannot 
be true,, because it neutralizes every imaginable evidence on 
which the common sense of mankind builds the certainty of 
every imaginable thing, respecting which we possess the capa- 
bility of forming a judgment. To this extravagant demand 
on our credulity, we may look with some degree of hope, as 
suggesting the application of a principle which, in skilful 
hands, will overthrow the dominion of the Church of Rome 
in the heart of many an uneducated, yet sensible man. Such 
a person cannot judge of the testimony of the Fathers, and as 
to the interpretation of Scriptures, he may feel inclined to 
acquiesce in the dictation of those to whom he has from infancy 
been taught to look up with reverence and faith. But in the 
use of his senses, he has ever been in the practice of judging 
for himself, and the happy moment may arrive, when he will 



59 

apply himself to this false doctrine, and cast off the spiritual 
oppression which insists on its right to stultify them. 

When the real truth of our Saviour's presence in the 
Eucharist, not in the substance of his humanity, which the 
Heavens must receive, till the times of the restitution of all 
things, but in the real presence of his divine power and virtue, 
by the Holy Spirit, began to revive out of its darkened and 
obscure state in the sixteenth century, the doctrine of transub- 
stantiation appeared particularly obnoxious to the awakened 
senses of sincere Christians, and rather than acknowledge it 
as true, many holy men and women embraced the stake and 
died in the flames. When these evil times had passed awa}', 
the reformers of the English Church renounced transubstan- 
tiation and the sacrifice of the Mass as altogether unscriptural, 
and they restored the celebration of the Eucharist to its ancient 
purity, in which it is shewn to be the commemorative sacrifice 
of Christ's body broken, and blood shed for the sins of the 
world, represented according to his own institution, in bread 
and wine, according to Melchisedec. 

In fine, I can never believe transubstantiation, since it im- 
plies that our senses, employed on proper and familiar objects, 
are so much deceived as to destroy all dependence upon them. 
I never can believe that our Saviour taught his disciples before 
his death not to believe in their own senses, which he must 
have done if he taught them transubstantiation, and that the 
very first thing he did after he was risen from the dead, should 
be to ask them quite the contrary, by appealing to the cer- 
tainty of sense for the proof of his resurrection. I never can 
believe a doctrine which strikes at the identity of Christ, 
which St. John's grounds upon the evidence of the senses: that 
they had heard, seen, looked upon and handled, of the word 
of life. I can never believe a doctrine that strikes at the cer- 



60 

tainty of what St. Luke calls infallible proofs of the resurrec- 
tion ; which were none others than what the senses afforded : 
that strikes at the ascension which took place publicly, for no 
other end than that the sorrowing Church might have a sensi- 
ble and intelligible foundation for her trust in him : who is 
exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. I cannot believe tran- 
substantiation, unless I can believe that truth can contradict and 
destroy itself: to conclude, if any can receive a doctrine so 
unscriptural in itself, and so dangerous in its consequences as 
transubstantiation, they do right to continue Roman Catholics, 
but if they doubt this doctrine of the Eucharist, it is high time 
to lay aside dissimulation and renounce the Church which 
maintains it. He who candidly examines the case, and is aware 
of its importance, will find that the doctrine of the Church of 
Rome holdeth to the letter which killeth : that of the Church 
of England, to the spirit which giveth life. Sincere minds will 
discover to which the preference is due, without indulging un- 
just suspicions or uncharitable assertions. 



SECTION IIL 



Sixth Chapter St. JOHN, from Verse 27 to 71, inclusive. 

" 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which 
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you : for him 
hath God the Father sealed. 

" 28. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the 
works of God? 

" 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye 
believe on him whom he hath sent. 

" 30. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we 
may see, and believe thee ? what dost thou work ? 

"31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert ; as it is written, He gave them 
bread from heaven to eat. 

" 32. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave 
you not that bread from heaven ; but my Father giveth you the true bread from 
heaven. 

" 33. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
life unto the world. 

" 34. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 

" 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life : he that cometh to 
me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 

" 36. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 

" 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh 
to me, I will in no wise cast out. 

" 38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will 
of him that sent me. 

" 39. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he 
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 

" 40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the 
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at 
the last day. 

" 41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread 
which came down from heaven. 

" 42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and 
mother we know ? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven ? 

" 43. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among 
yourselves. 

" 44. No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me draw 
him : and I will raise him up at the last day. 



62 

" 45. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. 
Ever> r man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh 
unto me. 

" 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God ; he 
hath seen the Father. 

" 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth£on me hath everlasting 
life. 

" 48. I am that bread of life. 

" 49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 

" 50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may 
eat thereof, and not die. 

"51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat 
of this bread, he shall live forever : and the bread that I will give is my flesh, 
which I will give for the life of the world. 

" 52. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this 
man give us his flesh to eat? 

" 53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye 
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 

" 54. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and 
I will raise him up at the last day. 

" 55. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 

" 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I 
in him. 

" 57. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he 
that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 

" 58. This is that bread which came down from heaven : not as your fathers 
did eat manna, and are dead : he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 

" 59. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 

" 60. TC Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This 
is a hard saying ; who can hear it? 

" 61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said 
unto them, Doth this oflend you ? 

" 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was 
before? 

" 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the M'ords 
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 

" 64. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the 
beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 

" 65. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, That no man can come unto 
me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 

" 66. IT From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more 
with him. 

" 67. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away ? 

" 68. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou 
hast the words of eternal life. 



63 

" 69. And we believe, and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the 
living God. 

" 70. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you 
is a devil ? 

" 71. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon : for he it was that should 
betray him, being one of the twelve." 



In the history and refutation of the doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation, given in the second section, I purposely reserved for 
special consideration, what our Lord says in the Sixth Chap- 
ter of St. John's Gospel, because the Bishop of Strasbourg 
seems to think that the strongest argument for the real pre- 
sence is derived from that portion of Scripture. In this opi- 
nion the learned Prelate has the misfortune to differ, as will 
afterwards appear, with the most ancient Fathers of the primi- 
tive Church, as well as with the most able Divines belonging 
to his own, and when we can place St. Ignatius, Clement of 
Alexandria, Tertullian, Athanasius, Cyril, Augustine, Pope 
Gelasius, and Facundus, in opposition to the Bishop of Stras- 
bourg, the latter stands as an author, in a position by no means 
enviable. On reading the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. 
John, you will find, that our Saviour, after feeding the five 
thousand, was under the necessity of withdrawing himself from 
the multitude, as they were going to take him by force to make 
him a King; believing, from the supernatural power that he 
had displayed, that he was able to deliver them from all their 
enemies, and to redeem the Jews from their present slavery 
under the Roman yoke. Jesus, having retired to the mountain 
alone, his disciples set sail for Capernaum, and while they were 
tossed by a tempest in the midst of the sea, they saw the Lord 
walking on the waters, and immediately they found themselves 
at land. Next morning the multitude sought Jesus through 
the whole neighbourhood, for they knew that he had not gone 



64 

in the ship with his disciples, but not finding him, the most for- 
ward of them procured some boats and went in search of him 
to Capernaum. Beholding Christ on their arrival, surrounded 
by his disciples, teaching the people in the Synagogue, they 
were unable to contain their astonishment, and exclaimed — 
11 Rabbi, when earnest thou hither ?" Jesus knowing their spirit 
and temper, rebuked them, and exhorted them to seek a better 
portion than the meat that perisheth, namely, the meat which 
endureth to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give 
unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed, that is, autho- 
rised and commissioned to bestow this spiritual food. The 
mention of the meat that perisheth, connected as it was with 
the miracle of the loaves, afforded our Saviour an opportunity 
of improving, as was his usual custom, the incident for the 
edification of his hearers. Solemn and awakening therefore 
as this discourse certainly is, it was not introduced by any for- 
mal preparation. Jesus had escaped from the people when 
they wished to make him a king: he had passed over the sea 
of Tiberias to Capernaum ; some of the more active and for- 
ward of the multitude had followed him, on account of the 
miracle of the loaves; and from carnal, not spiritual motives. 
This gave rise, in a way quite natural, to the remarkable con- 
versation recorded by St. John : as in his discourse with the 
woman of Samaria, our Lord took occasion, from her drawing 
the water, to pursue his conversation under the allegory of 
water, so on this occasion he carries it on under the allegory 
of eating and drinking. He calls the doctrine of the Gospel 
bread and wine, because Christianity rests on the great doc- 
trines of the incarnation and death of Christ, which are here 
called his flesh and blood. Therefore Jesus speaks of the 
belief of these things under the phrase of eating his flesh and 
drinking his blood, by which food they were to become immor- 



65 

tal and partakers of his glory. The metaphor of expressing 
spiritual food by meat and drink, used by our Lord through 
the whole of this chapter, is familiar to Eastern Nations, and 
occurs frequently in scripture. Thus Soloman represents wis- 
om as inviting men, saying, -" come eat of my bread and 
" drink of the wine which I have mingled." Isaiah exclaims, 
" wherefore doye spend money for that which is not bread, 
" and your labour for that which satisfieth not ; hearken diii- 
" gently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let you r 
" soul delight itself in fatness." And our Lord in this chapter 
exhorts the Jews not to labour for the meat that perisheth, but 
for that meat which endureth forever. But why, it may be 
asked, should this allegorical or figurative mode of instruction 
have been adopted by Christ, as the more natural way would 
have been to deliver his doctrines in express terms, as in some 
cases he has actually done ; what need of another language to 
convey the same truth ? To this I answer, that the more na- 
tural method to the Jews was the figurative or allegorical, such 
being the character of their numerous rites, and of the greater 
part of their scripture, in which the divine communications are 
not literal, but conveyed in types, symbols and metaphors. — 
For the Mosaic dispensation was not so much a revelation as 
a deposit of truths to be revealed : the form in which these 
truths are deposited being calculated rather to mould mens 
minds for their reception, than positively to teach them. — It 
was the Gospel which was to bring them to light. Hence the 
Chrstian's view of the doctrines of his religion is by this mode 
of expression connected with its proofs : our Lord, therefore, 
by conforming his plan of teaching to the spirit of the Jewish 
scriptures reminded them of the character of these scriptures, 
which were so composed that the indocile and uncandid seeing 
might not see, and hearing might not understand. 
E 



66 

Our Lord having reproved them for their-eagerness after 
perishable food, they ask, " what shall we do, that we may 
work the works of God ?" The Saviour answered, " this is 
the work of God, that ye believe in him, whom he hath sent." 
In this expression, the Jews understood him to mean himself, 
and to require a belief in his divine character as the Messiah ; 
but overlooking his miracles, and deluded with the notion of a 
great temporal king and deliverer, they were offended, and 
hastily inferring that he could not be that mighty conqueror 
promised in the law and the prophets. Nevertheless, as he 
manifestly assumed that title, they demanded new and greater 
proofs than those which he had yet given ; for as the Messiah 
was higher than Moses, he ought to do much greater miracles ; 
and having regard to the feeding of the five thousand, they 
suggested that Moses did much more ; " what sign," said they, 
11 shewest thou, that we may see and believe thee to be the 
" Messiah ; what dost thou work ; our fathers did eat manna 
" in the desert, and it is written, * he gave them bread from 
11 heaven to eat ;' " as if they had said, admitting the miracle 
of the five barley loaves and the five thousand, it was but a single 
miracle, and a trifling number ; but Moses fed the whole Jewish 
nation, being upwards of two millions, not for a day or a month, 
but during forty years. Our Saviour rectifies their mistake, 
teaching them, that it was not Moses but God, who gave them 
the manna, and now gave them the true bread from heaven, of 
which that was the type and figure, for the bread of God is he 
which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 
Still supposing Christ to speak of the material bread which 
would not suffer them to die, but to live forever, or to a very 
great age, they said unto him, " Lord ever more give us of this 
bread," for if you can give us such bread, we are ready to 
acknowledge you to be greater than Moses ; for our fathers, 



67 

though they did eat manna, died in the wildnerness. Oar Lord 
then adds, " I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall 
" never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall neve thirst ; 
" I came down from heaven to save the world, and this is the 
" Father's will that hath sent me, that of ail which he hath given 
" me I should lose none, but raise it up at the last day." Our 
Lords figurative manner of expressing himself through the 
whole of this discourse is particularly manifested in this quo- 
tation ; had he not been speaking spiritually, it would have 
been absurd to promise that his disciples should not hunger 
and thirst after eating this mysterious meat; what our Lord 
promised is, that they should never hunger and thirst for want 
of it. This answer not pleasing the Jews, they murmured saying, 
" is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother 
" we know? — how is it then that he saith I came down from 
" heaven ?" Disappointed in their wordly expectations, and 
having no relish for spiritual blessings, the Jews were incensed 
at his arrogance in pretending to have come down from heaven, 
and said in bitter derision, " Is not this the son of Joseph the 
Carpenter?" how then has he the presumption to say that he 
descended from heaven. On this our Lord rebukes them for 
their hardness of heart, and intimates that their opposition to 
spiritual things arose from their corrupt natures, which divine 
power could alone subdue : and he declares, that no man in his 
present degenerate state can divest himself of his blindness ?nd 
enmity to God, and seriously believe in his Son, unless the 
Father draw him, that is, persuade him by the influence of his 
spirit. The time was not yet come when the mystery of the 
incarnation was to be so revealed as to become an article of 
faith, but the discourse of cur Saviour led them to his celestial 
origin and divine mission, and the testimony afforded by his 
works or miracles fully justify his insisting upon their belief on 



68 

him. " Verily, verily I say unto you, that he that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life." Here the Bishop of Strasbourg!! 
asks, " what is the meaning of this exordium, and of this man- 
" ner of opening himself by halves, and by degrees ? How 
" comes it that he reminds them at repeated intervals of the 
" necessity of the faith due to his character, his miracles, and 
." divinity ? What is the tendency of these preliminary recom- 
" mendations ? In what are they to end, or what is he think- 
" ing of proposing to them ? Something very extraordinary 
" no doubt, and very difficult to be received, otherwise he would 
" have explained himself without making use of all these pre- 
" cautions." Before proceeding to notice the Bishops solution 
of these solemn questions, and which we shall prove, as I believe 
to be, altogether erroneous, it is necessary to premise : — 

1st. That there is a material difference and distinction 
between the teaching of Christ and the teaching of the Apos- 
tles : a distinction which has been too much overlooked by 
Divines, and which the Bishop of Strasbourg does not notice, 
although it would have furnished him with a much better expo- 
sition of our Saviour's meaning in this Chapter than that which 
he has adopted, and explained in a far more satisfactory man- 
ner the serious questions, which he proceeds to propound. — 
Our Saviour came rather to be the subject of Christianity than 
the author of it. He did not baptise, though baptism was the 
rite of admission into his religion ; he preached not to the Gen- 
tiles, although the most distinguishing feature of the new dis- 
pensation, was its extension to all mankind. He established 
no Church during his abode on earth, and left no written laws 
behind him, but as the subject of Christianity, he appears God 
manifested in the flesh, and in that character accomplished our 
redemption by his mysterious death and sufferings. As the 
teacher of mankind, he instructs them in a way by which they 



69 

might attain to the Divine favour, thus made accessible to all. 
In the first stage of Christianity, it was impossible for our Lord 
to explain more clearly than he did, many things respecting his 
birth ; his transcendant dignity, his last sufferings, his triumph 
over death and the grave, and his ascension up into heaven ; 
and this enables us to account for the difficulty of explaining 
many of his allusions and dark sayings, without the aid of far- 
ther revelation. There is, however, one thing which he never 
fails to demand, that is, faith in his words and testimony. This 
he requires of all those on whom he performed miracles, for as 
he made faith necessary to that eternal salvation which he came 
to offer, it seemed fitting, that temporal deliverance should in 
like manner be offered with the same condition, if we suppose 
the latter to be intended as a type of the former. Our Lord 
explains frequently to the multitude, and always to his disciples, 
every thing in as far as the progress of events would admit ; 
and on the present occasion, his address to the people is not 
more dark and mysterious, than the incidents to which it alluded 
rendered necessary : if therefore hints and allusions were often 
given by our Lord, which partook more of the obscurity of 
prophecy than the explanation of a new truth, it was because 
many of the Christian doctrines could neither be as yet clearly 
communicated nor comprehended, as they depended upon 
events, which bad not taken place. The great doctrine of 
the atonement for example, which was not fully accomplished 
till our Lord's ascension, his resurrection from the dead, he. 
were not designed to be publicly understood till the illumina- 
tion caused by the descent of the Holy Ghost. Even the twelve, 
though commonly allowed an explanation, were as much in the 
dark respecting some of the main truths of Christianity till the 
coming of the Holy Ghost, as the multitude around them. To 
speak therefore of our Lord's careful exordium, his opening 



70 

himself by halves and degrees, is altogether erroneous. When 
our Lord says to his disciples, it is expedient to you that I go 
away, he plainly indicates that the office of making Christians 
belonged to the comforter. God manifested himself in the 
flesh to redeem the world and to atone for sin; to be made 
the object of a new faith : the subject of a new religion. God 
manifested himself by the Spirit, to instruct men in what he had 
done, and to teach them what they were bound in consequence 
to do. The Holy Spirit was sent to the disciples, not only to 
bring all things to their remembrance, but to teach them all 
things : the necessity of which is manifest in a great number 
of instances. We trusted, said the two disciples, in their dis- 
appointment and despondency, that it had been he which should 
have redeemed Israel, evidently shewing that they were even 
at this time unacquainted with the doctrine of redemption, by 
the death of Christ. It is not for you, or you cannot be ex- 
pected to know, says Christ to his disciples, the times or sea- 
sons which the Father has put in his own power. But ye shall 
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and 
ye shall be my witnesses. Even if it be admitted that our 
Lord's teaching embraces all the essential doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, yet from the very form adopted, that of parables, sym- 
bolical miracles, and didactic prophecies, the truths so depo- 
sited by his followers were plainly not designed to be under- 
stood, until the Holy Spirit should not only have brought 
Christ's ministry to their remembrance, but taught them also 
all things implied and intended by it. Until such assistance 
was given, they were in possession of a revelation which they 
did not understand, and without this assistance, there can be 
no question that the Christian doctrines could never have been 
understood, explained and preached. From Adam until Christ, 
the scheme of man's redemption was prefigured. In Christ's 



71 

ministry it was accomplished, by the Spirit it was explained. 
This great doctrine depended upon our Lord's death and suf- 
ferings, and could not be properly understood till after his 
crucifiction. These remarks, which might be profitably ex- 
tended, account satisfactorily for our Saviour's mode of teach- 
ing, without having recourse to any art or management, as the 
Bishop of Strasbourg appears to suppose. Every thing was 
told in such a manner, as to be understood at the time, or so 
plainly, that when the event to which it referred took place, it 
was fully comprehended, or if it still partook of prophetical 
obscurity, it was taken by the Holy Spirit and brought home to 
the apprehension of the Apostles and converts. 

2nd. I am as ready to admit as the Bishop of Strasbourg, 
that our Saviour's discourse on this occasion was very remark- 
able, and that his strong manner of expressing himself, and 
his emphatically repeating the same thing in the same or dif- 
ferent phrases, is sufficient to persuade us that some important 
mystery and significant lesson of instruction was intended to be 
communicated. Now the Bishop contends that the mystery 
revealed was that of transubstantiation, or his real physical 
presence in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and that a 
prior belief in this doctrine is required by Christ, as necessary 
to salvation. That this is a great error will be abundantly 
shewn (in my opinion) in the sequel, at present it may be ob- 
served, that in this Chapter, our Lord plainly announces himself 
to be the Messiah ; that he had come down from heaven ; that 
he was greater than Moses ; that his kingdom was not as the 
Jews vainly believed temporal, but spiritual ; that he would at 
length ascend into heaven, and appear no more personally 
among them ; that eating his flesh and drinking his blood were 
not meant in a gross carnal sense, but of spiritually living in 
him, and on his fulness by faith, for as the soul of man giveth 



72 

life to the body, without which the flesh is only a lifeless putre- 
fying lump of clay, so without the life giving spirit of God, all 
forms of religion are dead and worthless ; he declares, that by 
believing his doctrine, trusting in his promises, and meditating 
on his instructions, they would spiritually eat his flesh and drink 
his blood. It is therefore not wonderful that a discourse con- 
taining such high and mysterious things should astonish our 
Lord's audience, since it contradicts their dearest prejudices, 
for though instruction had frequently been spoken of as the 
food of the soul, yet no Prophet or servant of God from the 
beginning of the world had spoken of himself, as the bread of 
life. 

This discourse at Capernaum, happened about a year 
before our Lord's institution of the Eucharist, and many of the 
most able Divines, both ancient and modern, contend that it 
has no relation to that ordinance, but merely to spiritual feed- 
ing in general; others maintain that the connexion is intimate, 
and that our Saviour's expressions on this occasion appear a 
sort of preparation for the appointment of the last Supper. The 
arguments on both sides are exceedingly strong, and I am in- 
clined to believe, that though this discourse more immediately 
refers to the atonement, and the benefits we derive from it by 
faith, yet it may be justly considered a prophetic intimation of 
the advantages to be derived from the participation of the 
Lord's Supper. The sacrifice of Christ and the Holy Sacra- 
ment have such a relationship, that the mention of the one may 
naturally suggest the other. In speaking of the offering of his 
body, Christ, we may well suppose, spake of it with a reference 
to that Sacrament, in which it is typified and its benefits ap- 
plied. Those who by true faith are partakers of Christ's pro- 
pitiation have eternal life, and in like manner those who rightly 
and worthily receive the Holy Sacrament are spiritually par- 



73 . 

takers of Christ's body and blood ; they become one with Christ 
and Christ with them ; they really partake of the benefits of 
his passion ; they feed on him by faith ; they are supported, 
nourished and strengthened by him, and the divine principle 
of life which is then confirmed in their souls, will, if not for- 
feited by sin, lead to eternal happiness. But though it may 
be right to apply the general doctrine of this Chapter to the 
particular case of the Lord's Supper, considered as worthily 
received, because the spiritual feeding here mentioned is the 
thing signified and effected by the Lord's Supper, yet when we 
come to the critical examination of words and phrases, it will 
be found that this admission gives no strength or countenance 
to the Bishop of Strasbourg's doctrine. 

Having premised these things, we proceed with the exami- 
nation of our Lord's discourse, and here it may be proper to 
remark, that there is a spiritual feeding or eating and drinking 
our Lord's body broken and blood shed, or participating of 
the atonement made by our Lord's death and sufferings, with- 
out reference to sacramental feeding, because many have doubt- 
less been saved through the blood of Christ, who never had an 
opportunity of participating in the Communion. It is, how- 
ever, the bounden duty of all Christians frequently to com- 
memorate the death of Christ, and when they communicate 
worthily, they feed spiritually on his body and blood, for this 
is the substance. The actual oral manducation of the bread 
and the drinking of the wine, being merely the outward signs. 
Admitting therefore the relation between what our Saviour 
here says about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, with 
the Lord's Supper, I contend that the expressions are figurative : 
in this I am fully warranted by the 63rd verse, as well as by the 
general purport of the whole conversation, which appears upon 
the face of it to carry a mystical, not a literal meaning. " It 



74 

is the spririt that quickeneth ; the 4P sn profiteth nothing : the 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 
The words are also universal and not particular in their appli- 
cation, whether we take them negatively or affirmatively. — 
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his 
blood, ye have no life in you :" — so far negatively. " If any 
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: who so eateth my 
flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life:" that is, all 
who feed upon what is here mentioned have life, and all that 
do not feed thereupon have no life, or all that finally share in 
the death, passion and atonement of Christ, are safe ; and all 
that have not a part therein, are lost : all that are saved, owe 
their salvation to the salutary passion of Christ, and their par- 
taking thereof, which is feeding upon his flesh and blood, is 
their life* This is the basis of the Gospel ; we must be recon- 
ciled to God, by the death of his Son, before we have a just 
claim or title to any thing besides. Therefore the foundation 
of all our spiritual privileges, is our having a part in that re- 
conciliation, and which, according to St. John, in this Chapter, 
is eating and drinking his flesh and blood, or as St. Paul tells 
the Hebrews, eating of the altar : the result, fruit or effect of 
our thus eating his crucified body, is a right to be fellow heirs 
with his body glorified, for if we are made partakers of his 
death, we shall also be made partakers of his resurrection. On 
this is founded our mystical union with Christ's glorified body, 
which neither supposes nor infers local presence; for all the 
members of Christ, however distant in place, are thus mystically 
united with Christ, and with each other. The sum of the doc- 
trine of this Chapter is not confined to oral or spiritual man- 
ducation in the Eucharist, but also extends to spiritual mandu- 
cation at large. The feeding on Christ's death and passion, 
as the price of our redemption and salvation, confers a spiritual 



75 

or mystical union with Christ's human nature, and by that with 
his Godhead, to which his humanity is joined in an unity of 
person : but as this spiritual manducation belongs also to the 
Eucharist, our Lord's expressions are not foreign to the ordi- 
nance, but have such a relation to it, as the inward thing sig- 
nified has to the sign. 

3rd. Our Lord's conversation in the Synagoge, at Caper- 
naum, was not more mysterious than that which he held with 
Nicodemus respecting the new birth, but when the latter was 
explained, as referring figuratively to baptism or the washing 
of water upon the outward man, and sanctification of the spirit 
in the inner man, it became plain and easy of comprehension, 
when therefore our Lord says, "I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall 
live forever ; and the bread that I shall give him is my flesh, 
which I shall give for the life of the world :" it is the same as 
if he had said, I am the bread oflife whom God hath sent into 
the world, to direct and bring you into the wa}' of everlasting 
life. With this bread, the manna of which }'ou boast that your 
fathers eat in the Wilderness, is not to be compared, for the 
manna preserved them not from temporal death. But whoso- 
ever eateth of this bread by believing on me, embraceth my 
doctrine, and persevering in obedience to my commandments, 
shall be kept and nourished unto everlasting life. For I am 
the word, and the word was made flesh, that by it the world 
might be saved : but my incarnation is not all, I must also 
suffer death upon the cross, and give my life a ransom for many. 
He therefore that believeth in my incarnation and passion, and 
acts accordingly, shall as certainly be nourished, as the bread 
he eats supports the life of his body. In all this, our Lord 
says nothing more mysterious, than when he tells the woman 
of Samaria, "The water which I shall give him, shall be in 



76 

him a well of water springing up into eternal life :" for as the 
body is nourished by the food that is eaten, so he that receives 
me into his heart with a spiritual appetite, his soul shall live and 
never die. But the Jews, unable to elevate their thoughts to 
spiritual things, disputed among themselves, saying, " How 
can this man give us his flesh to eat." This oral manducation 
of his very flesh, they deemed monstrous and absurd. These 
gross conceptions, which our Lord hastens to rectify, have been 
adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, and yet they loudly 
exclaim against those who cleave to the truth. Indeed, were 
not the subject so awfully serious, it would be amusing to fol- 
low the Bishop of Strasbourg in this part of his interpretation. 
The Prelate admits, that the Jews understood our Lord, when 
he spoke of giving them his flesh to eat, to mean a real man- 
ducation, and although our Lord explains himself as speaking 
spiritually, not carnally, the Bishop adopts the condemned opi- 
nion of the Jews, and pleads also for an oral manducation of 
a similar kind, though covered with a veil to render it invisible 
to the senses. The Roman Catholic believes that the elements 
of bread and wine do not so much as exist in the stupendous 
mystery : for he believes. " That by virtue of the Divine 
Omnipotence, and in consequence of the solemn act of conse- 
cration, these humble substances are completely changed, being 
thus transubstantiated into the body and blood of our great 
Redeemer, in conformity to that plain and strong assurance 
of this Divine Being: 'this is my body; this is my blood.' " 
Now the plain and obvious meaning of the words of the insti- 
tution, as noticed in the former section, as well as those used by 
our Lord at Capernaum, was never mistaken for many centu- 
ries, but in process of time, the true sense became obscured in 
the dark ages, and by degrees came to be almost entirely lost ; 
and even now this misconstruction remains in the Roman Ca- 



77 

tholic Church a standing monument of human infirmity ; nor 
was it easy to restore the true sense at the reformation, and 
clear off the mist with which it was surrounded. The bread 
that I will give you is my flesh. Except ye eat the flesh of 
the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. — 
Such expressions now repeated cannot mean that the bread and 
wine became really and literally our Lord's body, in the same 
broken state as it hung upon the cross, fhd that blood which 
was spilt upon the ground more than eighteen hundred yea. 
ago ; neither can they mean that this bread and wine, literally 
and properly, are our Lord's glorified body, which is as far 
distant from us as heaven is distant ; all sense — all reason — all 
scripture — all antiquity, and sound theology reclaim against 
so wild a thought. As a further confirmation of this reasoning 
and illustration of the subject, I observe that there was a very 
prevalent tradition among the Jews, suggested by many pro- 
phetic passages of the Old Testament, that upon the coming 
of the Messiah, all the sacrifices of the law would cease : only 
the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Eucharist) should be perpetuated 
in bread and wine, after the example of Melchisedec. Of this 
person we know neither his entry into the world nor his exit 
from it, that he might be the more like to Christ, who is an 
eternal Prince and Priest : King of Righteousness ; King of 
Peace, without beginning of days or end of life, for of his 
kingdom there shall be no end. Melchisedec came to meet 
Abraham with blessings in his mouth, and in his hands bread 
and wine : and our Lord, who is declared by the Apostle to be 
a Priest, after his order, took bread and wine, and under these 
symbols offered himself a sacrifice well pleasing to God, and 
obtained a blessing for all the seed of Abraham, who in the 
Divine strength are conquerors of their spiritual enemies, 
Satan, sin and death. This application of the bread and wine 



78 

which Melchisedec brought forth or offered as a type of Christ, 
and his oblation of himself under such symbols for a blessing 
to mankind, is fully acknowledged by the Church from the 
Apostolic age. St. Clement, of Alexandria, who flourished 
in the second century, calls Melchisedec's bread and wine, 
" food sanctified for a type of the Eucharist." "Our Saviour, 
(says Eusebius,) the Christ of God, does yet celebrate by his 
servants the functions of his Priesthood, after the manner of 
Melchisedec; for as he being a Priest of the Gentiles, never 
appears to have offered corporeal sacrifices, but blessed Abra- 
ham in bread and wine; m like manner our Saviour first, and 
then all Priests from him, celebrating the spiritual ministry 
over all nations, according to the laws of the Church, myste- 
riously represent his body and salutary blood in bread and 
wine." St. Augustine, in his work " De Civitate Dei," men- 
tions Melchisedec's interview with Abraham, and says, "there 
first appeared the sacrifice which now through the whole world 
is offered by Christians to God, and that is fulfilled, which was 
long after said by the Prophet to Christ, who was yet to come 
in the flesh." — " Thou art a Priest forever after the order of 
Melchisedec." 

Now this interpretation of Melchisedec's, so far from 
favouring the Roman Catholic Church, strongly militates 
against their opinion ; for they can neither say nor suppose that 
the body and blood of Christ could have been substantially 
received before he took flesh and blood by his incarnation, and 
therefore they must admit that bread and wine may be a sacri- 
fice, pacificatory and refreshing to our souls, without believing 
that there is any transubstantiation in what they represent, and 
the virtue of which they beneficially apply. Indeed this argu- 
ment, drawn from Melchisedec's typical offering of the Eucha- 
rist, is in my opinion decisive, were there no other against the 
doctrine of transubstantiation. 



79 

But to proceed :— our Lord's expressions, in his divineiy 
mysterious sermon at Capernaum^ were " the bread that I will 
give you is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." 
Here he speaks in the future, which he explained and fulfilled 
when he took bread and blessed it and gave it to his diciples 
saying, " this is my body which is given for you." The words 
at Capernaum were "which I shall give," but now, "this 
bread is my body which is given" — this body, with its drink 
offering, his blood, in spirit and in power. But our Lord 
himself, to guard us against taking those strong expressions of 
his in a literal sense, plainly points out their spiritual meaning 
in the same chapter — " it is the spirit that quickeneth ; the 
flesh profiteth nothing ;" forbidding at once the thought of his 
natural flesh, and condemning forever the doctrine of the 
Church of Rome, that the substance of the bread and wine 
passed into the natural substance of the flesh and blood of 
Christ, that very flesh and blood which he took of the sub- 
stance of the blessed Virgin, and which hung on the cross on 
Mount Calvary : had the primitive Church believed or sus- 
pected this, they never would have thought of praying for the 
sanctification of the elements of bread and wine, as is expressed 
in ail their Liturgies ; to have done so under that supposition 
or belief, would have been exceedingly absurd, if not blasphe- 
mous. The natural body and blood of Christ are capable of 
no additional sanctification, being united in one person with 
the divinity, and having the spirit without measure, being the 
fountain of it, to all who receive it. If any difficulty be felt in 
explaining our Lord's words at Capernaum, it is effectually 
removed in the institution cf the Lord's Supper, when he took 
bread, blessed and brake it, and declared that same substantial 
bread to be his body; and when he took the fruit of the vine, 
which the cup contained, and said, " This is my blood," as- 



80 

serting after the consecration and consumption of it, that what 
he gave, so consecrated and received by his Apostles, was in 
substance wine, which the Jews called the fruit of the vine ; the 
same meaning is established by St. Paul, for he repeatedly calls 
what was offered and received, bread after consecration. Thus 
let a man examine himself, and so let him "eat of that bread 
and drink of that cup: for whosoever shall eat this bread and 
drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the 
body and blood of the Lord ;" bread therefore it is, and yet 
the body of the Lord, and wins it is, and yet the blood 
of Christ. At the same time this bread and wine so blessed 
and declared to be Christ's body and blood, became more 
than a bare representation or figure. They are, as our 
Church, taught by Scripture, declares in her twenty-fifth article 
of religion, an effectual sign in virtue and effect, though not 
in substance the thing which they represent. It is the bread 
and wine quickened by the Spirit, who is the giver of life: 
that Divine person, who rendered effectual to our spiritual 
health and souls salvation, all that our Redeemer had done and 
suffered for us, and by the means of his own appointment. 
The same Almighty word which gave bread its natural virtue 
to nourish the body, by his blessing in the first institution of 
of food, gives the sacramental bread its supernatural virtue in 
this divine institution for the strengthening and refreshing of our 
souls in the spiritual life, and for the resurrection of our bodies 
to life eternal, for says our gracious Lord, " He that eateth 
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will 
raise him up at the last day." This appears to have been the 
doctrine of the Christian Church, for more than six centuries, 
and was scarcely in any degree obscured till very corrupt and 
ignorant ages followed, nor was it ever totally lost, even in 
the Western Church, though nearly choked for a time by the 



81 

prevailing growth of transubstantiation, yet in the face of anti- 
quity, and that of Scripture, sense and reason, the Bishop of 
Strasbourg proceeds with amusing gravity to rebuke the Pro- 
testants for not adopting his new doctrine : and this at the very 
moment that he had seen our Lord telling the Jews, who 
understood his words as Roman Catholics now do : "It is the 
spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words 
that 1 speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Thus 
we have a plain and convincing intimation that Christ spoke 
of eating his flesh and drinking his bood in a figurative and 
spiritual manner, and that the eating of his flesh, as the carnal 
Jews understood, and as modern Roman Catholics understand, 
would profit nothing. Here I pause from following the Bishop, 
till I make good my assertion made in the beginning of this 
section, that he stands in opposition, in his explanation of St. 
John, to the most celebrated fathers of the Church. 

St. Ignatius, the disciple of St. John the Evangelist, and 
who had lain in the bosom of that Apostle as the Apostle had 
in the bosom of Christ, and who must have received the sense 
and meaning of this chapter from the holy penman himself, 
speaking to the Ephesians, desires them to make haste together 
to one place in one common faith, in one Jesus Christ, breaking 
one loaf, which is the medicine of immortality, and our anti- 
dote against death. Although this father does not quote this 
chapter, he had it in his eye when he says in another place 
" I delight not in corruptible food, nor in the entertainments 
of this world. The bread of God is what I covet — heavenly 
bread- — bread of life, namely, the flesh of Jesus Christ the 
son of God ; and I am athirst for the drink of God, namely, 
his blood, which is a feast of love that faileth not, and life 
everlasting." Clemens of Alexandria, who flourished about 
F 



32 

192, speaking of the Eucharist, says — "Our Lord, in the 
Gospel according to St. John, has otherwise introduced it 
under symbols, saying, eat my flesh and drink my blood, 
allegorically signifying the true and clear liquor of faith and 
of the promise by both which the Church, like man, com- 
pacted of many members, is watered and nourished, and is 
made up or compounded of both — of faith, as the body ; and 
of hope, as the soul, like as our Lord of flesh and blood.'* 

Tertullian, speaking of our Saviour's discourse at Ca- 
pernaum, k< though" he says, " the flesh profiteth nothing, yet 
the sense is to be governed by the subject matter ; for because 
they thought it a hard and intolerable saying, as if he had 
intended really to give them his flesh to eat ; therefore he 
promised that it is the spirit that quickenelh, and then sub- 
joined, that the flesh profiteth nothing,, namely, towards quick- 
ening ; therefore, as he makes the word quickener, because 
the word is spirit and life, he calls the same his flesh, as the 
word was made flesh, which consequently is to be hungered 
after for the sake of life, to be devoured by the ear, to be 
chewed by the understanding and digested by faith." 

Origin says, " Christ's flesh is meat indeed, and his blood 
drink indeed, because he feedeth all mankind with the flesh and 
blood of his word, as with pure meat and drink. Athanasius 
says, " the words which Christ spake at Capernaum, are not 
carnal but spiritual, for how could his body have sufficed for 
meat, that it should be made the food of the whole world." 
Cyril, of Jerusalem, observes, "that Christ once discoursing 
with the Jews said, except )'e eat the flesh, &c. ; but they not 
understanding the things that were spoken, or in a spiritual 
manner, but supposing that he exhorted them to eat flesh (like 
cannibals) were scandalised, and went back from him." 



83 

St. Augustine says, " Why preparest thou teeth and sto- 
mach? believe, and thou hast eaten, for to believe in him is to 
eat the living bread ;" again in his tract on St. John, he says, 
" to believe in him is to eat the living bread ; he that believes, 
eats, because he is inwardly replenished." 

Again he introduces Christ as saying " understand what 
I say in a spiritual manner, you are not to eat that body which 
you see, and you are not about to drink this identical blood 
which they who crucify me will pour out; I have commended 
to you a Sacrament, which will give you life if spiritually un- 
derstood ; though it is necessary to be celebrated in a visible 
manner, yet it must be invisibly apprehended; what is the 
bread of the kingdom of God, but he who says, I am the living- 
bread which came down from heaven, prepare not your mouth 
but your heart. This is the commendation of this Supper, see 
we believe in Christ : we receive this with faith in receiving, 
we know what is the subject of our meditation." " Certainly," 
says Pope Gelasius, in the fifth century, "jthe Sacraments of 
the body and blood of the Lord, which we receive, are a Divine 
thing, because by these we are partakers of the Divine nature. 
Nevertheless, the substance or nature of the bread and wine 
ceases not to exist, and assuredly the image and similitude of 
the body and blood of Christ are celebrated in the action of 
the mysteries." 

" The Sacrament of adoption," says Facundus, in the 
sixth century, " may be called adoption, such as the Sacrament 
of the body and blood of Christ, which in the consecrated 
bread and wine, we are wont to call his body and blood. Not 
indeed that the bread is properly his body, or the wine is pro- 
perly his blood, but because they contain the mystery of his 
body and blood within themselves. Hence it was that the Lord 
denominated the consecrated bread and wine which he delivered 
to his disciples, his own body and blood." 



84 



It were easy to multiply extracts of a similar nature, but 
these are quite sufficient, (more especially when taken in con- 
nexion with the celebrated men noticed in the last Section who 
opposed yransubstantiation,) to prove that such a doctrine was 
unknown to the primitive Church, and that the words of Saint 
John are figurative as well as those which our Lord used at 
the institution of the Eucharist. 

Thus we have seen that the Primitive Church, as well as 
all Protestant Churches, repudiate the doctrine of the real phy- 
sical presence, and that the bread of God which came down 
from heaven, and of which the manna in the wilderness was a 
type or shadow, is to be received by faith ; for what our Hea- 
venly Father demands of us is, to believe in him whom he hath 
sent. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, it consists 
not of exterior things, but of a dominion over the heart and 
understanding, and therefore what our Lord says of eating and 
drinking has far more respect to our spiritual than our carnal 
nature ; for as the animal spirits quicken the body, so in the 
work of grace, the spirit of God quickens our souls to spiritual 
and eternal life. The elements of bread and wine, considered 
merely in themselves, are of no advantage in the life of the 
soul, but they have been selected by our Saviour as symbolical 
of spiritual things, and are the means, if received in faith, of 
conveying the Holy Spirit, whose influence, as the fruit of 
Christ's death and resurrection and ascension is effectual to eter- 
nal life. Consequently, the shocking idea conveyed to the Jews 
by his words, our Saviour carefully removes and endeavours 
to convince them, on this as on all other occasions, that his 
religion is spiritual ; yet notwithstanding our Lord's earnest- 
ness to convince his hearers that he was speaking of heavenly, 
not earthly things, the Bishop asserts that there is no figurative 
language in the discourse, but that it must be taken literally. 



85 

Now if our Lord had not corrected the Jews for their low and 
grovelling conceptions, the words used, taken literally, outrage 
common sense, to which all scripture is addressed, and it is not 
a little extraordinary, that while the Bishop contends for the 
literal sense of our Saviour's words, he is compelled to allow 
that the flesh and blood are presented under the form of bread, 
that under the form and appearance of bread his flesh is eaten, 
that they participate of the substance, of his body and are 
nourished by it under the appearance and usage of the 
ordinary aliment of man. What inconsistency ! — -the words 
are not symbolical, and yet they are symbolical ; in fine, if the 
Bishop attaches any distinct meaning to his belief, it must be 
that of the Church of England ; any other, even by his own 
shewing, betrays him into the most glaring contradictions. The 
fault of the Jews not only consisted in taking our Lord's word? 
in their literal sense, " how can this man give us his flesh to 
eat," but they also despised and opposed spiritual things, for 
their indignation did not reach its height till our Lord repeats 
what he had said before, " that no man can savingly believe in 
him, except the Father draw him by the spirit, and thus give 
him strength and grace to come unto him in a spiritual man- 
ner." His disciples were so stung and offended at this close 
application of his doctrine, that many departed and returned 
to the world. Before they went away our Lord in his wonder- 
ful benignity endeavours to recall their attention to spiritual 
objects : are you surprised and disturbed at what 1 have now 
spoken, as if they were strange and unintelligible things? what 
if hereafter ye shall see me go up again to the same place from 
whence I at first came ? when ye see this ye will learn to 
understand my words, not in a gross, but in a spiritual and 
rational sense, in truth, the metaphor in this discourse of food 
as doctrine, and eating and drinking as believing, was notdinl- 



86 

cult to be apprehended by the Jews, because 'found in the 
Scriptures and known in their schools, but eating his flesh and 
drinking his blood, literally understood, gave them offence 
because prohibited by the law of Moses, and repugnant to the 
customs of civilized nations. 

Our Lord, on this apostacy, to try the faith of the twelve, 
said in a moving and affectionate manner, il Will ye also go 
away." Behold how many have forsaken me, will ye follow 
their example ? what are your thoughts and purposes ? Then 
Simon Peter answered him, " Lord, to whom shall we go, thou 
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe, and are sure that 
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." These words 
of St. Peter are of great importance to the right explication 
of the context : he and the other Apostles had continued "with 
our Saviour from the first ; they had been witnesses daily of 
his miracles; they had beheld his Divine countenance, that 
mild and God-like face, tempered by human limitations ; they 
had seen his pure unspotted innocence — his heavenly deport- 
ment — his conversation so wise, condescending and sublime, 
connecting the present with the future, earth with heaven, and. 
therefore with entire conviction they exclaimed, "Yes, we be- 
lieve and know that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." 
Nor do we understand thy words in the carnal and absurd sense 
which these men have given them, for we perceive that thou 
speakest of those doctrines and revelations by which we are to be 
guided to eternal life. This declaration, which is fully implied 
in the v/ords of St. Peter, proves beyond controversy, that the 
Apostles believed our Lord's conversation in a spiritual and 
not in a carnal sense, for their answer to our Lord's appeal, is 
the same as if they had said: Thou art the true bread of life, 
the promised Messiah so long looked for, — the eternal Son of 
the living God, who earnest down from heaven. Hence the 



87 

fahli required by the Gospel is the submission of the heart to 
the receptiQii of Divine truth,' much more than any peculiar 
capacity for understanding abstruse doctrine, and when men 
are willing to receive instruction, it will always be supplied 
them in a sufficient degree for securing the great object of reli- 
gion, the salvation of their souls. Here lay the distinction 
between the disciples who remained and those who forsook our 
Saviour: neither of them understood or could understand the 
full import of Christ's words, for his crucifiction, resurrection 
and ascension had not yet taken place, but one part gave the 
Saviour their full confidence, and the other was self-sufficient 
and averse to spiritual things. And here it is right to observe, 
that we stand on the vantage ground, Christ has risen from the 
dead and ascended into heaven; the Holy Ghost has come and 
announced that he is the Messiah, by the most astonishing 
manifestations, and these proofs of his divinity must bring cer- 
tain conviction to every well ordered mind. With such accu- 
mulation of proofs in favour of the sense which we give to our 
Saviour's discourse, the Apostles, the Fathers, he. ; it is rather 
too much for the Bishop of Strasbourg to call upon us to give 
up our dearest hopes, because we do not adopt his carnal inter- 
pretation. Christianity is a spiritual worship, and its object is 
to bring men to a nearer conformity to God : for this purpose, 
it elevates their views above temporal things, and qualifies them 
for a higher state" of existence, but to maintain that the words 
of our Saviour in the Synagogue at Capernaum are literal, not 
spiritual, is so self evident a misapprehension of the nature 
and design of the Gospel, as to be almost incredible, and is in 
fact an extravagance more difficult to reconcile to the mind, 
than even the apostacy of the Jews, when they heard and were 
offended at them. One has hardly patience with the Bishop 
of Strasbourgh, when he says, " that if the Jews were shocked 



88 

and scandalised, when Jesus said, I will give you my flesh to eat, 
when he was upon earth, and before their eyes, how much more 
will you be scandalised, when 3 r ou shall see his body go up to 
heaven and disappear from your sight? If this manducation 
appears to you incredible, now that you see my body, how much 
more will it appear to you, when you see it no more , ? This 
doctrine was therefore such, that after his resurrection it would 
represent more difficulties to be understood, than it did before, 
and from this I conclude that his doctrine was not such as the 
reformed attribute to him.' , 

Now this mode of reasoning is singularly weak — the hard 
saying at which the Jews were offended, was the monstrous, and 
as they conceived, the savage doctrine of eating his flesh and 
drinking his blood, which notwithstanding our Lord's explana- 
tion, they persevered in believing, in a literal sensed and yet 
the Roman Catholic Church, with astonishing perverseness, 
adopts the very belief for which the Jews were reproved, and 
without their excuse, for the spiritual nature of Christ's king- 
dom is now most clearly revealed, and leaves not the semblance 
of argument from Scripture, sense or reason, for the Bishop of 
Strasbourg's opinion. His Lordship endeavours to fortify his 
opinion by giving a sense to the 63rd verse, at variance with 
its evident meaning, for he applies the words flesh and spirit in 
a manner totally unconnected with the context : " It is the spirit 
that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing: — as if our Lord 
had said the flesh, that is, the senses or corrupt reason of man, 
profiteth nothing towards the discovery or belief of what he 
had announced ; that is, the reality of the manducation on which 
he has so much insisted, of which he here declares that we can- 
not judge by the flesh or by a carnal reason which profiteth 
nothing, and that it could neither be discerned nor believed, 
except by the quickening spirit ; that is, by the grace and light 

ILefC- 



89 

of God." Now this gloss makes the carnal man display his 
carnality, by adopting the spiritual interpretation of our Lord's 
expressions : while the spiritual man displays his spirituality, by 
preferring the carnal interpretation ; such a paraphrase appears 
to me a very extraordinary description of the two states of the 
carnal man and spiritual man, and is not sanctioned by any 
authority. The true meaning has already been given, that 
what he had said about eating his flesh was to be understood 
in a spiritual, not in a carnal sense. The words which I speak, 
*ays Christ, convey to men the power of the spirit, for the flesh 
of itself profiteth not at all to the end that I propose, namely, 
giving you eternal life. Thus understood, there is a consistent 
and regular connexion with what goes before. Perhaps still 
more singular is the interpretation by the Bishop of the 65th 
verse : " Therefore, said I unto you, that no man can come 
unto me, except it were given unto him by my Father," which 
he expounds to mean, "the need of an assistance, a particular 
grace from heaven for believing the manducation contended 
for." Now such a sense is totally inconsistent with the text 
which evidently implies what our Saviour had already declared, 
" that no man can savingly believe in me, unless my Father 
draw him by his spirit, and give him strength and grace to 
enable him to come unto me in a spiritual manner for everlast- 
ing life." 

Let us now look back and glance at our examination of 
this Chapter : 

1st. Jesus Christ uses in this discourse metaphorical lan- 
guage, as was his custom, and urges strong motives to convince 
his hearers of the obligations they were under to believe in his 
words ; the depth and solemnity of the observations are very 
remarkable, and revelations are made in language not a little 
mysterious, of some of the leading doctrines of Christianitv.-r- 



90 

Why such were not at the time more clearly communicated is 
abundantly accounted for, by the distinction noticed between 
the teaching of Christ and the teaching of his Apostles. 

2nd. When our Lord speaks of feeding his Church with 
his flesh and blood, his langnage was so strong that the dis- 
ciples murmured, and the Jews indignantly asked, <( how can 
this man give us his flesh to eat;" it appears from the tenor of 
the narrative, that both Jews and disciples understood him lite- 
rally, but Christ hastens to correct this mistake, and teaches 
them to understand him figuratively. Those who believed 
received his explanation, but the perverse heeded him not : yet 
although our Saviour interprets his language figuratively, the 
Bishop of Strasbourg, like the obstinate Jews, maintains that 
his language is literal, thus placing himself in direct contra- 
diction to Christ's declaration recorded in Holy Scripture. 

3. The figurative exposition of our Saviour's language 
in this Chapter, as well as the institution of the Eucharist, is 
in perfect accordance with the whole Scripture, but the literal 
exposition is in direct contradiction. The Bishop's doctrine 
is, " that in the celebration of the Eucharist, the Priest offers 
up the literal body and blood of Christ to God, as the true and 
proper expiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead." Christ, 
therefore, according to this doctrine, is repeatedly offered ; but 
in Holy Writ, we are positively assured, that Christ was offer-- 
only once—Heb. 9 ch. & 28 v. Heb. 10 ch. &10v. 1 Peter, 
3 ch. h 18 v. The term once, is in direct opposition to the 
term repeatedly. According to Scripture, Christ is once 
offered, but according to the Bishop of Strasbourg and his 
Church, Christ is repeatedly offered; hence the Holy Scriptures 
and the Roman Catholic Church are placed in direct variance 
with each other. 



91 

4th. After our Lord's explanation, St. Peter clearly per- 
ceives, that he had been speaking figuratively, and says, thou 
hast the words of eternal life: had he thought that Christ had 
spoken literally of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he 
would naturally have said : Lord, it is a hard saying, yet be- 
cause thou hast said it, we believe; strengthen thou our unbe- 
lief. The Apostle however speaks very differently: " Lord, to 
whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life;" as if 
he had said, we are resolved to remain with thee, for thou art 
the true bread of life. But had our Lord left them in their 
mistake in believing his words literal and not figurative, it 
would only have been in accordance with his conduct on other 
occasions, when dealing with hardened and obstinate sinners ; 
for example, he said, " destroy this temple, and in three days I 
will raise it up again ;" and though the Jews did certainly mis- 
understand him, because he spake of the temple of his body, 
yet he makes no attempt to set them right. 

5th. The summary of his argument, drawn up by the 
Bishop, displays much weakness, with not a little assurance. 
The first three paragraphs are taken up with shewing that the 
Jews understood our Lord to mean a real manducation ; in the 
fourth paragraph he asserts, with astonishing coolness, that our 
Lord had also the reality in view, because he does not correct 
them, totally forgetting or misapplying the 63rd verse, in which 
Christ expressly condemns their carnal meaning, and declares 
his words to be figurative. The fifth and sixth paragraphs, 
after noticing the offence taken by the disciples, asserts that 
our Lord does not soften the expressions which had alienated 
his hearers, although the very contrary is the fact, for Christ 
clearly intimates, that his flesh is his life, which he was to give 
for the life of the world, and eating his flesh and drinking his 



92 

blood, is believing on him Christ crucified the propitiation for 
the sins of the whole world. In the remaining paragraphs, 
the Bishop gives a perverse interpretation to the Chapter, and 
makes our Lord to say the very opposite of what he did say ; 
that he announced the reality of the manducation, and reproach- 
ed the disciples for their unbelief, because they considered the 
manducation impossible, and that we are in the same condem- 
nation. The Bishop farther states, that Jesus declares that no 
one can believe this manducation, if he has not received grace 
from the Father. Now the discourse proves the reverse of all 
this, and most clearly shews, that the Jews did understand a 
real manducation, and were so scandalised, that either they did 
not listen to or give credit to Christ's correction of their error, 
which clearly intimated that the manducation to which he 
alluded was spiritual, and therefore so must the food be spiri- 
tual, and consequently it could not be his natural flesh: but the 
Apostles attending to his explanation, remained stedfast in their 
confidence, though not yet acquainted with the true nature of 
his doctrine, which was afterwards to be more fully revealed. 
It is impossible to follow the Bishop through what he he means 
as his summary, without remarking the difficulties he has to 
encounter in so interpreting the Chapter, as to support the error 
of transubstantiation. Instead of the sublime truths which our 
Lord brings forward, as far as they could then be revealed, the 
Bishop seeks to confine our vision to the mere belief, in a carnal 
manducation, and to effect ibis purpose he js compelled to per- 
vert and misinterpret the clearest expressions. 

6th. A great part of the Pamphlet is taken up with exhort- 
ing Protestants to turn to what his Lordship deems the true 
faKh, respecting the body and blood of Christ; with what suc- 
cess may be anticipated, when the whole of the discourse at 



93 

Capernaum is in direct opposition to transubstantiation, a doc- 
trine which we have proved unknown in the primitive Church, 
and which receives no countenance from the more early fathers ; 
nay, it has been shewn that these eminent men interpret our 
Lord's expressions in this Chapter figuratively, and not literally, 
so that they stand in direct opposition to the Bishop. In truth, 
his Lordship's doctrine outrages our senses, and appears to 
those who have not had their minds prejudiced in its favour 
from infancy, altogether incredible; nor is it too much to 
assert, that no man of common understanding can ever be 
brought to believe the doctrine of transubstantiation, if pro- 
posed to him after he has attained the years of discretion. Thus 
have we gone through the Sixth Chapter of St. John, from 
which the Bishop of Strasbourg endeavours to draw the 
strongest argument for the real physical presence of the body and 
blood of Christ, in the consecrated elements of bread and wine ; 
and we have, it is hoped, fully proved that our Lord speaks 
throughout spiritually, though the images and illustrations, as 
was his custom, are taken from the things immediately around 
him or familiar to his hearers. The discourse is indeed highly 
spiritual, as might have been anticipated from the very nature of 
the Christian religion, which is essentially spiritual, and seeks to 
beget in us heavenly dispositions, and to bring us nearer and 
nearer to the character of God. But enough has been said to 
justify me in concluding, that the Bishop of Strasbourg has totally 
failed in his argument; it therefore becomes rather ludicrous in 
his Lordship to exhort us to beware of the danger we are in : the 
danger is certainly not with us, but with his Lordship, and all 
persons of his belief. We arrange ourselves with the Apostles, 
and his Lordship takes part with the unbelieving Jews; — we 
listen to Jesus Christ, who is still in the midst of us, and con- 
tinues to speak the same language to us : we hear him, and 



94 



surrender ourselves in deep humility to his will, while the Bishop 
of Strasbourg perverts or misinterprets the words of our 
Saviour, and stands in the situation of those, who teach for 
doctrines the commandments of men. 



CONCLUSION. 

It is hoped that my object, in this and the preceding Sections, 
which has been to furnish a competent knowledge of the true 
nature of the Eucharist as it appears from the Scripture, and 
was understood by (he Apostles and first Christians, and to re- 
move the perplexing error of transubstantiation, with which it 
has been for many ages deformed, has been fully attained. 

While doing this 1 have satisfactorily shewn, that it is the 
most merciful and beautiful institution that God ever vouch- 
safed to man ; and that it Ought not to surprise us that its cele- 
bration stood forth as the most prominent part of the worship 
of the Primitive Church ; it indeed no where appears that our 
Saviour himself ordained any other for his disciples, but the 
commemoration of his own death in this Holy Sacrament. 

Prayer is a duty of natural as well as of revealed religion ; 
but the celebration of the Eucharist, with its attendant duties, 
preaching the doctrine of the Apostles, fellowship among the 
Saints, and the public prayers, is peculiar to Christianity; and 
was the known stated and constant worship of our Lord's 
disciples and their followers ; and with reason, for the death of 
Christ is the most wonderful and beneficial event that marks 
the annals of time, and of all others the most deserving to be 
the chief subject of our praise to God. Now praise, offered in 
a proper manner, is justly esteemed the most rational and ex- 



95 

cellent part of divine worship, consequently, a participation of 
the Eucharist, in faith and sincerity, is the most acceptable 
service we can pay to our Greater and Redeemer. 

The Eucharist has been considered by the pious of all 
ages a feast upon a sacrifice ; and with equal propriety may it 
be proclaimed a festival in honor of Divine mercy to mankind ; 
for where shali we find a manifestation of God's unspeakable 
love to our fallen race like that of sending Jesus Christ into the 
world to save us from destruction. 

Conscious, as every reflecting man must be, of having 
failed in his duty, and of his need of some testimony of the for- 
giving grace and compassion of Him, against whose law our 
transgressions have been committed, the communion comes as 
balm to the soul : we recognise it to be a feast in honor of the 
promised and pledged exercise of God's forgiveness, and as the 
most grateful of all services which can be performed by man. 
There is no worship so worthy of the benevolence and conde- 
scension of God to institute, nor any that ought to be so wel- 
comed in songs of thanksgivings by the universal voice of all 
the inhabitants of the earth ; for as all are guilty of sin, and 
bear always about them doubts and fears, the most blessed as- 
suredly of all sounds is that announced in the Holy Eucharist, 
which presents God accepting our Lord's* sacrifice for sin, 
pitying our guilt, and removing our iniquities. It is indeed 
the business of the Gospel to announce forgiveness of sins ; 
peace with God ; expiation by the blood of Christ; and eternal 
life to fallen but pardoned sinners. These are the messages 
which its heralds are commissioned to proclaim to the children 
of every kindred, language and people: and if it be "true that, 
the feet of those are beautiful who speed their way into all lands 
proclaiming unto the inhabitants of the earth, behold your God, 
how much more ought the mortal history of that greatest of all 



96 

the messengers of divine mercy to be kept hi remembrance, 
whose very appearance in our nature was the highest of all 
pledges, that God, "had indeed pitched his tabernacle with 
men," and that he would dwell with them upon earth. 

The Eucharist thus deemed a feast in honour of divine 
mercy published and ratified to the whole human race, is a 
conception of the Institution particularly pleasing and lovely, 
and offers a most appropriate termination to this essay, on its 
true meaning, character and importance. In this aspect it is 
felt to be the most attractive and delightful of all festivals, 
blotting out our sins, removing our doubts and fears, breathing 
into our souls peace and reconciliation, restoring our tarnished 
honour, and fortifying our minds with the most glorious hopes 
of soon enjoying that more intimate communion with our 
Saviour in his everlasting kingdom, of which the Eucharist in 
this life is so touching and perfect a representation. 



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